granit French · revision 15714

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1611, Cotgrave, granit oriental|origins=la grānum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɡʁa.nit/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''granit''' ''m'' (plural granits)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Granite'' (1665), kept as the scientific spelling^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi); ''granit'' was long pronounced without the final ''t'', rhyming with ''nid'' in Hugo.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|granito]], recorded in the modern sense from the late 15th century, the adjective “granito” “grainy” used as a noun,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|4, 238a) properly the past participle of [[m|it|granire|t=to form grains]], derived from [[m|it|grano|t=grain]], from [[la|grānum|t=grain]], the source of [[grain]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The word thus means “grainy stone”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cotgrave (1611) has ''granit oriental'' for a kind of jasper, an isolated use;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the modern sense appears in Thévenot's ''Relation d'un voyage fait au Levant'' (1665), of a column ''tout d'une pièce de granite''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In science ''granite'' is a hard igneous rock of feldspar, mica and quartz.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) By likeness of look, ''granit'' named other grainy materials, such as speckled silk (1827) and a grainy fabric;^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) figuratively it stands for hardness and insensitivity, as in ''cœur de granit''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ''Granitique'', ''granitoïde'' and ''graniteux'' date from 1783, in Buffon's time.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The ''granité'', a granular sorbet, is probably taken from Italian ''granita''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 15th century – Italian ''granito''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1611 – ''Granit oriental'', a kind of jasper (Cotgrave).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1665 – ''Granite'' (Thévenot).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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

+ * 1783 – ''Granitique'', ''granitoïde''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1827 – A speckled silk.^(BHVF)

+ * 1840 – ''Graniter''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|granite|alt=Granite]], a hard grainy [[m|en|igneous]] rock of feldspar, quartz and mica.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative, literary)'' A symbol of hardness: ''cœur de granit''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[granitique]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[grain]]

+ * [[granité]]

+ * [[en|granite]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}