époque French · revision 16568

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1619 or 1637, Davity (epoche)|origins=grc ἐπέχω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /e.pɔk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''époque''' (plural époques)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned borrowing, [[bor|grc|ἐποχή|tr=epokhḗ|t=stop, pause; period, era]], in astronomy the apparent halt of a star at its apogee.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 232b) The Greek noun comes from [[m|grc|ἐπέχω|tr=epékhō|t=to hold back, check]], formed from [[m|grc|ἐπί|tr=epí|t=on, upon]] and [[m|grc|ἔχω|tr=ékhō|t=to hold, have]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873) Bossuet explained the word as meaning “to stop”, a fixed point in time.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is Davity's ''epoche ou aere'', “epoch or era”; the TLFi and Rey date it to 1637, the Grand Robert and the GLLF to 1619, and Bloch and Wartburg and the Petit Robert to 1634.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Bossuet's ''Histoire universelle'' (1678–80) it is both a fixed point from which a chronology starts and a period marked by an important event.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The first sense survives only in ''faire époque'' (Rousseau, 1762), as in Voltaire's remark on Corneille making Condé weep.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) In logic it meant the suspension of judgement, and in astronomy (1808) the mean position of a planet at a given instant.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ From the late 18th century it named any period in the life of a person or a society, an artistic period (''l'époque classique'', 1829) and a division of geological time, after Buffon's ''Époques de la nature'' (1778).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''Les époques'' was a familiar euphemism for menstruation (1835).^(DHLF 1992) ''La Belle Époque'' names the first years of the 20th century.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1619–37 – ''Epoche'', Davity.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(TLFi)

+ * 1678–80 – A starting point; a historical period, Bossuet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1762 – ''Faire époque'', Rousseau.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1778 – Buffon's ''Époques de la nature''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1808 – In astronomy, Lagrange.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1829 – An artistic period, Sainte-Beuve.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1835 – ''Les époques'', menstruation.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A period of history: ''l'époque des croisades'', ''la Belle Époque''.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A time, a period in someone's life or in the year: ''à cette époque'', ''à l'époque'', at the time, ''une drôle d'époque''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A period of art or style: ''l'époque classique'', ''meuble d'époque'', a genuine period piece.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Faire époque'': to mark an era, be memorable.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(geology)'' An [[m|en|epoch]], a division of a period, ''(astronomy)'' an epoch.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[grc|ἐποχή|tr=epokhḗ]]

+ * [[en|epoch]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}