fossile French · revision 15707

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1556, Le Blanc, translation of Cardano|origins=la fodiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fo.sil/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /fɔ.sil/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fossile''' ''m'' (plural fossiles)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|fossilis|t=dug up]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|3, 741b) probably formed on [[m|la|fossum]], the supine of [[m|la|fodiō|t=to dig]], the source of [[fouir]] and of [[fosse]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Le Blanc's translation of Cardano (1556) uses it as an adjective, “that can be dug out of the earth, mineral”^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873); Palissy defines ''fossiles'' as mineral matter for which one must dig.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first ''fossile'' was said of any substance taken from the ground, as ''sel fossile'' or ''charbon fossile'', a sense now dated.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) From 1713 it named the remains or prints of plants and animals preserved in rock, a key word of the new science of the 18th century, tied to theories of the Flood and the revolutions of the Earth, which became palaeontology in the 19th.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Figuratively, from 1827, ''fossile'' is old-fashioned, and a person with outdated ideas is ''un fossile'' (1833).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) ''Fossiliser'' and ''fossilisation'' are from 1832, ''fossilifère'' from 1837.^(DHLF 1992) ''Énergies fossiles'' are fuels formed from fossil plants, such as coal, oil and gas.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1556 – “Dug from the earth, mineral”.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1713 – The remains of plants and animals preserved in rock.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1718 – First recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 1827 – “Old-fashioned”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1832 – ''Fossiliser'', ''fossilisation''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1833 – ''Un fossile'', a person with outdated ideas.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1837 – ''Fossilifère''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|fossil]], the remains or print of a plant or animal preserved in rock.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A person with outdated ideas; an old [[m|en|fogey]].^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Fossil, preserved in rock: ''espèce fossile''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989); ''énergies fossiles'', [[m|en|fossil fuel|alt=fossil fuels]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Outdated, [[m|en|antiquated]].^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fosse]]

+ * [[fouir]]

+ * [[la|fodiō]]

+ * [[en|fossil]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}