zone

Pronunciation

• IPA: /zon/^[1]

Forms

zone f (plural zones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin zōna (“belt, girdle; climatic zone”), which is borrowed from Ancient Greek ζώνη (zṓnē, “belt, girdle; zone”), from ζώννυμι (zṓnnumi, “to gird”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} In Late Latin medicine the word also named a disease, whence zona “shingles”.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119) uses it for each of the five great divisions of the globe, separated by circles parallel to the equator, corresponding to the main climates.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Rare before the 16th century, and still thought learned and pedantic in the 17th, it was taken up at the Renaissance in geography: zone torride (1546–1552), zone tempérée and froide (1562), zone glaciale (1680).^[2][3][5][4] Oresme (about 1366) uses it for a part of the celestial sphere between two parallel circles.^[2][6] The original Greek sense “belt” was borrowed again in the 14th century and used by Chateaubriand as an archaism (1797).^[3][6]

From 1587 it meant a region, and, from the middle of the 18th century any area with particular features, in geology and natural history (1752) and in geometry (1812).^[3][2] Military and political uses followed: zone de tir (1842), zone d'influence (1890), zone occupée and zone libre (1940).^[3] Early in the 20th century la zone named the shanty belt on the glacis of the old fortifications of Paris, then any poor suburb (1932), whence zonard;^[3][2] zone industrielle dates from 1941 and zone bleue from 1957.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1119 – A climatic zone of the globe, in Philippe de Thaon.^[2]
• c. 1366 – A zone of the celestial sphere, in Oresme.^[2]
• 1546 – Zone torride, in Rabelais.^[3][8]
• 1587 – “Region”.^[3]
• 1752 – In geology and natural history.^[2]
• 1842 – Zone de tir.^[3]
• 1890 – Zone d'influence.^[3]
• 1932 – Zone “a poor suburb”.^[3]
• 1941 – Zone industrielle.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geography) Each of the five climatic belts of the globe: zones tempérées, zone tropicale.^[9][1]
2. A zone, an area with particular features or rules: zone industrielle, zone franche.^[2][3]
3. (military, politics) Zone d'influence, zone occupée, zone libre (1940–1942).^[3]
4. (geometry) The part of a sphere between two parallel planes.^[2][9]
5. La zone: a poor, run-down suburb, originally the belt outside the old fortifications of Paris.^[3]
6. De seconde zone: second-rate.^[3]

Word family

• zonard
• zoner
• zonier

Related words

• zona
• Ancient Greek ζώνη (zṓnē)

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert