bronze French · revision 15789

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1511, Jean Lemaire de Belges}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bʁɔ̃z/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bronze''' ''m'' (plural bronzes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|bronzo|t=alloy of copper and tin]] (1250–1300), whose origin is obscure.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary) Medieval forms in northern Italy, such as “bronzium” (Piacenza, 1314) and “brundum” (Treviso, 1313), point to a Medieval Latin “*brundium”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) This has been connected with [[la|Brundisium]], Brindisi, famous for its bronze already in Pliny (“aes Brundusinum”), but the sound changes are unclear;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Larousse)^(Académie 9) with Late Greek [[grc|βροντεῖον|tr=bronteîon|t=a stage device for imitating thunder]], from [[m|grc|βροντή|tr=brontḗ|t=thunder]], the metal being named for its sound;^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) or with a Persian word for brass, “birinj”, through an Arabic “*burunz”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|1, 373a) The alloy came to the West from the East through Venice or Genoa.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Littré reports Muratori's derivation from [[it|bruno|t=brown]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Jean Lemaire de Belges uses it in 1511 for the alloy;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) it was often feminine until the 17th century, as in Rabelais's ''la bronze corinthienne''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Besides the alloy, ''bronze'' names objects made of it (as in Italian, 1450): a bronze work of art, a bell, and in classical poetry a cannon.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) Figuratively, as Italian did from the early 16th century, it stands for hardness and insensitivity: ''un cœur de bronze''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(Larousse)

+

+ The ''médaille de bronze'' is a third prize, and the ''âge du bronze'' a period of prehistory.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) As a colour adjective, ''bronze'' is found from 1821.^(BHVF) The verb ''bronzer'' (about 1560) later came to mean “to tan”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1250–1300 – Italian ''bronzo''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1313–1314 – Medieval Latin ''brundum'', ''bronzium'' in northern Italy.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1511 – ''Bronze'' (Lemaire de Belges).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1560 – ''Bronzé''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1821 – A colour adjective.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|bronze|alt=Bronze]], an alloy of [[m|en|copper]] and tin.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A bronze object, especially a work of art: ''un bronze de Rodin''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Médaille de bronze'': third prize.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(literary)'' ''Cœur de bronze'': a heart of stone.^(Larousse)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Bronze-coloured: ''vert bronze''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bronzer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[airain]]

+ * [[en|bronze]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}