épisode French · revision 15946

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1637, Scudéry|origins=grc ὁδός}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /e.pi.zɔd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''épisode''' ''m'' (plural épisodes)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Épisodie'' (15th century to the early 17th, d'Aubigné); ''épisode'' from 1637; its gender varied in the 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is borrowed from [[grc|ἐπεισόδιον|tr=epeisódion|t=addition; part of a play between choral songs]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 228a) the neuter of [[m|grc|ἐπεισόδιος|tr=epeisódios|t=coming in besides]], from [[m|grc|ἐπείσοδος|tr=epeísodos|t=entrance]], formed from “epi” and [[m|grc|εἴσοδος|tr=eísodos|t=entry]], from “eis” “into” and [[grc|ὁδός|tr=hodós|t=road, way]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) Bloch and Wartburg note that the path of the 15th-century form is uncertain.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ [[en|episode]] (1670s) is from French or directly from Greek.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Georges de Scudéry's ''Observations sur le Cid'' (1637) use ''épisode'' for an incident or action attached to the main one, criticising the episode of the Infanta.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the theatre it named an action secondary to the main plot (Corneille, 1660: ''Aristote blâme fort les épisodes détachés''), and later the same in novels, poetry, painting and the cinema.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) In 1660 it also took the rhetorical sense of a dialogue part of Greek tragedy between choral songs.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Before 1696 La Bruyère used it for any incident within a larger whole (''un épisode de la Révolution'').^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) In the mid-20th century it came to mean a part of a serial (''film à épisodes'', ''suite au prochain épisode'').^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) ''Épisodique'' dates from 1633, and its sense “occasional” is modern.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 15th century – ''Épisodie''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1633 – ''Épisodique''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1637 – ''Épisode'' in Scudéry.^(TLFi)

+ * 1660 – In Corneille.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1670s – English ''episode''.^(Etymonline)

+ * Before 1696 – “Incident”, in La Bruyère.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * Mid-20th century – A part of a serial.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|episode]], incident in a series of events: ''un épisode de la guerre''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A secondary action in a play, novel or poem.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # An instalment, episode (of a serial): ''film à épisodes''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(Greek drama)'' A part between two choral songs.^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(music)'' An episode (in a fugue).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[épisodique]]

+ * [[épisodiquement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[exode]]

+ * [[méthode]]

+ * [[grc|ἐπεισόδιον|tr=epeisódion]]

+ * [[en|episode]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}