trace French · revision 16629

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=first half of the 12th century, Psautier d'Oxford|origins=la trahō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʁas/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''trace''' ''f'' (plural traces)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a deverbal noun from [[tracer]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|13/2, 144a) Bloch and Wartburg derive the verb from [[la-vul|*tractiō]], from [[la|tractus|t=a drawing, a line]], from [[m|la|trahō|t=to draw, pull]]; in Old French the verb often meant “to follow a track, search”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The AND records the noun in Anglo-Norman from the 12th century.^(AND)

+

+ Cognate with [[oc|trassa]], [[es|traza]] and [[it|traccia]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Psautier d'Oxford'' (first half of the 12th century) uses it for the mark left where someone has passed: ''les tues traces ne serunt cuneüdes'' “thy footsteps shall not be known”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Figuratively ''la trace'' of someone was his way of behaving, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence (1174–76), whence ''suivre les traces de quelqu'un'' “to follow someone's example” (1601).^(TLFi) It came to mean what remains of a past action (early 13th century), a mark left by something (mid-13th century), a very small quantity of a substance (1377), detected by analysis (1846), and an impression left in the mind (1675).^(TLFi)

+

+ ''Suivre à la trace'' is in Montaigne (1580); ''être sur la trace de'' “to be close to discovering” is in Balzac (1843), and mountaineers ''font la trace'' “break the trail” from the late 19th century.^(TLFi)^(BHVF) Geometry has ''trace'' for the intersection of a line with a plane (1799–1800, Monge).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * First half of the 12th century – ''Psautier d'Oxford''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1174–1176 – A way of behaving, Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^(TLFi)

+ * 1377 – A very small quantity, Lanfranc's ''Chirurgie''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1580 – ''Suivre à la trace'', Montaigne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1601 – ''Suivre les traces de quelqu'un'', Charron.^(TLFi)

+ * 1799–1800 – The geometrical sense, Monge.^(TLFi)

+ * 1887 – ''Faire la trace'', in mountaineering.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|track]], trail, footprints: ''des traces de pas dans la neige'', ''suivre à la trace''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Suivre les traces de quelqu'un, marcher sur ses traces'': to follow someone's example.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A mark left by something: ''des traces de doigts'', ''des traces de pneus''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # What remains of something past: ''les traces d'une civilisation''; an impression on the mind.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A very small amount: ''des traces d'arsenic''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' The [[m|en|trace]] of a line or of a matrix.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tracer]]

+ * [[tracé]]

+ * [[trait]]

+ * [[traire]]

+ * [[la|trahō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}