buste French · revision 15608

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1546, bust|origins=la bustum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /byst/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''buste''' ''m'' (plural bustes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|busto|t=upper body]] (14th century),^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) perhaps from [[la|bustum|t=funeral pyre; tomb]], which could have come to mean “bust” because funeral monuments were often adorned with a bust of the dead.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|1, 651a) Rey explains ''bustum'' as a back-formation from [[m|la|amburō|t=to scorch, burn around]], wrongly divided as “am-burere”.^(DHLF 1992) The TLFi is more doubtful about the source.^(TLFi) In the 16th century it was also written “busque”, by confusion with [[busc]] “busk”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[es|busto]] and [[pt|busto]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A Paris document of 1356 orders “a list of busts and images” beneath a history of Caesar.^(BHVF)^(Grand Robert 2005) The usual first dates are 1546 (''bust'', Charles Estienne and Rabelais) and 1549 (''buste'').^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word names the upper part of the human body, from the neck to the waist, and especially a woman's chest.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) By metonymy, from 1680, it is the sculpture or painting of the head and upper body.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) ''Bustier'', at first a sculptor of busts, came in 1954–1955 to mean a strapless bodice.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1356 – ''Bustes'' in a Paris document.^(BHVF)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1546 – ''Bust''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1549 – ''Buste''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1680 – A sculpted or painted bust.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1954–1955 – ''Bustier'' “strapless bodice”.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The upper part of the human body, from the neck to the waist; the [[m|en|torso]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A woman's breasts, [[m|en|bust]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A sculpture of the head and upper body, usually without arms.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[busc]]

+ * [[la|bustum]]

+ * [[en|bust]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}