cercle

Forms

cercle m (oblique plural cercles; nominative singular cercles)^[1]

• cerkle, sercle, siercle^[2]
• cecle, ciecle, chiercle^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin circulus (“circle, ring, hoop”),^[1][5][6][7] a diminutive of circus (“ring, circle”).^[8][7] In the Latin word the middle consonant of the group was kept, as in other groups ending in /l/ or /r/, giving Old French /tserkle/.^[9] Its Romance cognates include Italian cerchio, Old Occitan cercle and Catalan cercle.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is a gloss in Rashi's commentaries on the Talmud, of the end of the 11th century, where the French word translates the Hebrew word for a circle or wheel.^[10][11][12] The AND first cites it from 1113–1119.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts the word named both a circle and a round object.^[7] The Eneas of about 1160 uses it for the metal band round the cap of a helmet, and Raoul de Cambrai (1185–1188) for the hoop of a barrel; the geometrical sense, the circumference of a circle, is in Brunetto Latini's Trésor (1265–1268).^[13] Chrétien de Troyes has it for a gold band set on a helmet or on a lady's head.^[14] The Winchester Psalter renders Latin orbis with it: tuit chi habitez le cercle “all you who dwell in the world”.^[15] The modern word is French cercle, whose sense of a social circle is from the 17th century.^[13]

Timeline

• 1085–1100 – in Rashi's French glosses on the Talmud.^[10][11]
• 1113–1119 – the first Anglo-Norman citation in the AND.^[2]
• c. 1160 – “metal band of a helmet” in the Eneas.^[13][7]
• c. 1170 – cercle d'or in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec.^[14]
• 1185–1188 – “barrel hoop” in Raoul de Cambrai.^[13]
• 1265–1268 – the geometrical circumference in Brunetto Latini's Trésor.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. a circle, ring.^[2][1]
2. a band of metal round a helmet; a circlet or coronet.^[14][2]
3. a hoop, especially of a barrel.^[13][2][16]
4. the circular path of a heavenly body, an orbit.^[2]
5. the world.^[2][15]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word cercle, first cites it from 1113–1119, and lists the spellings cerkle, sercle and siercle.^[2] Its insular senses include the band round the world, the orbit of a heavenly body, a barrel hoop also used as a brewer's sign, a semicircle and the whole world.^[2] Middle English cercle comes from Old French and Latin, and is the English circle, recorded from about 1300.^[17][18]

Word family

• cercler
• cerclel

Descendants

• French cercle^[1]
• Norman cèrcl'ye^[1]
• Walloon ceke^[1]
• Middle English cercle (borrowed; → English circle, Scots circle)^[1]

Related words

• cercel
• cerchier

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy, the DÉCT, the AND and the DMF all head the word cercle;^{[19][20][14][2][21]} Tobler–Lommatzsch records it as masculine and feminine.^{[19][20][14][2][21]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. cercle
3. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
4. ^ ATILF (2017), LGeRM: lexique morphologique du moyen français, version 2.0.0, Nancy: ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, ORTOLANG (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 FR), p. s.v. cercle
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2:703
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1947
7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. cercle
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 157
9. ^ Pope, Mildred K. (1934), From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman: Phonology and Morphology, Manchester: Manchester University Press (revised reprint 1952), p. § 364
10. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. RaschiD2
11. ^ a b Katan, Moshe (1988), Otzar La'azei Rashi: the Old French glosses of Rashi, Jerusalem; digital edition Sefaria, p. s.v. cercle
12. ^ Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. cercle
13. ^ a b c d e f 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
14. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. cercle
15. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
16. ^ Foerster, Wendelin; Breuer, Hermann (1914), Kristian von Troyes: Wörterbuch zu seinen sämtlichen Werken, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 74
17. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
18. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
19. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 2:124
20. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 9:19
21. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. cercle