instrument

Forms

instrument m^[1][2]

• enstrument, instrement, instriment^[3][1]

The plural is mostly instrumens, also instrumenz.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnstrūmentum (“furniture, equipment, tools”), derived from īnstruō (“to equip”).^[5][6] The DEAF explains that the Latin word developed regularly into estrument, and that it also lived in French as a borrowing, probably from the second half of the 13th century.^[1] The DHLF calls instrument of 1365 a remaking of the older form,^[7] and Körting likewise says the word is learned everywhere in Romance, with the older form of Old French the exception.^[8]

According to the DEAF, the senses of the Old French word, a tool of any kind, a means to an end, a musical instrument and a document with legal force, were already Latin, while the use for organs of the body appears later.^[1] The Latin sense “Testament” goes back to the end of the 2nd century and continued in Christian and Medieval Latin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEAF's first record of this form is the Roman du Mont Saint-Michel of Guillaume de Saint-Pair, of the third quarter of the 12th century in a manuscript of the second half of the 13th, where it names a musical instrument.^[1][9] The older form estrument is recorded from 1113–1119 in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries the learned form spread through documents: a deed or notarial act from 1282, a tool or device from about 1314, and a means to an end from the same date.^[1] The DEAF also records a person serving as someone's instrument in a manuscript of the second quarter of the 14th century, the organs of the body, the sexual organs from about 1365, and the Old Testament.^[1] Oresme writes instrument in 1365,^[5] and the DMF records the word for a tool, apparatus or engine.^[11]

The FEW dates the general sense of a tool in Middle and Modern French from Oresme on,^[12] and the TLFi dates the figurative sense of a person or thing that serves a purpose to about 1485.^[5] The modern word is French instrument.^[5]

Timeline

• 1113–1119 – the older form estrument in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[5][13]
• 1150–1175 – instrument “musical instrument” in the Roman du Mont Saint-Michel.^[1][9]
• 1266–1300 – first citation in the AND.^[3]
• 1282 – in an original document.^[1]
• c. 1314 – “tool, device” in Henri de Mondeville's surgery.^[1]
• 1365 – instrument in Oresme.^[5]
• c. 1485 – a person or thing that serves a purpose.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. a musical instrument.^[1][3][14]
2. a tool, device or piece of equipment.^[1][3][11]
3. an instrument of war, an engine.^[3][14]
4. a document with legal force, a deed;^[1][3] instrument public, a notarial act.^[1][3]
5. a means to an end; a person used as a means.^[1]
6. an organ of the body.^[1][15]
7. the Testament, a part of the Bible.^[1][3]

Anglo-Norman

The AND has separate entries for estrument, first cited from 1113–1119, and instrument, first cited from the last third of the 13th century, with the spellings enstrument, instrement and instrumentiz.^[10][3] Under instrument it records the senses of a weapon or engine, the Old Testament, and a formal document attested by a notary.^[3] Etymonline dates English instrument to the late 13th century, first for a musical instrument, from Old French instrument and enstrument as well as Latin.^[16]

Descendants

• Middle French instrument (→ French instrument)^[11][5]
• Middle English instrument (borrowed; → English instrument)^[16]

Related words

• estrument

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch refers instrument to its article estrument,^[2] the DÉCT knows only estrument,^[17] and the DEAF, the AND and the DMF treat the two forms separately.^[1][3][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. instrument
2. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 4:1409
3. ^ 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. instrument
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 382
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. instrument
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 5048
9. ^ 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. ChronSMichelB
10. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. estrument
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. instrument
12. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4:726
13. ^ 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. PhThCompS
14. ^ 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. 10:22
15. ^ 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. 4:595
16. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. estrument