pantomime French · revision 15776

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1469, Doléance de Mégère, panthonime|origins=grc παντόμιμος}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pantomime''' ''f'' (plural pantomimes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|pantomīmus|t=mime actor]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|7, 570a) from Hellenistic Greek [[grc|παντόμιμος|tr=pantómimos]], formed from [[m|grc|παντο-|tr=panto-|t=all]] and [[m|grc|μῖμος|tr=mîmos|t=mime]], literally “one who mimes everything”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) The feminine noun for the art (1752) is an extension of the masculine noun for the actor.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Doléance de Mégère'' in the ''Jardin de Plaisance'' (1469) speaks of ''ung paris panthonime'', alluding to Paris, a famous pantomime actor of ancient Rome mentioned by Suetonius.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As in Latin and Greek, a ''pantomime'' was first an actor who expressed himself only by gesture, at first in an ancient setting, and before 1755 (Saint-Simon) a mimic who imitates other people's gestures and manner; in this sense the masculine has given way to ''mime''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The feminine took over in the 18th century: the ''ballet-pantomime'' (1749), the art of the mime (1752) and a play in which the actors use only gesture and music.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Outside the theatre, from Rousseau (1750), a ''pantomime'' is an affected, ridiculous display of behaviour.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''Pantomimique'' dates from 1802–1805.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1469 – ''Panthonime'', a mime actor.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1694 – The masculine in the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * before 1755 – A mimic (Saint-Simon).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1749 – ''Ballet-pantomime''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1750 – An affected show (Rousseau).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1752 – The art of the mime, feminine (Lacombe).^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1798 – The feminine in the Académie.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(feminine)'' The art of expressing oneself by gesture alone; [[m|en|mime]]; a mimed play, a [[m|en|pantomime]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(feminine, figurative)'' An affected, ridiculous show of behaviour; a [[m|en|charade]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(masculine, dated)'' A mime actor.^(TLFi)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mime]]

+ * [[mimique]]

+ * [[en|pantomime]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}