lunette French · revision 16967

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1200, L'Escoufle|origins=la luna}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ly.nɛt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lunette''' ''f'' (plural lunettes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fr|lune|-ette]], literally “little moon”,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) from [[la|lūna|t=moon]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The link with the moon was gradually lost as the optical senses grew in importance.^(DHLF 1992) The word for spectacles was chosen because of their likeness in shape to the round glass of a mirror, and its general meaning soon displaced other terms such as [[besicles]].^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The romance ''L'Escoufle'' (about 1200) has ''lunete'' for a small round ornament in a fabric.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the second half of the 13th century (''Vie de sainte Paule'') it named the round plate of glass or polished metal of a mirror.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Spectacles were invented in Italy at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century, perhaps after Roger Bacon's optical work in the ''Opus majus'';^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg credit the Florentine Salvino degli Armati.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The plural ''lunettes'' “spectacles” is found from 1398.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The singular came to name the telescope (1579, in Gabriel Chappuys),^(TLFi) and the Paris spectacle makers were selling a new kind ''à voir de loing'' in April 1609.^(BHVF)

+

+ From 1676 (Félibien) it also named a round opening: a skylight in a roof, the seat of a privy.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Richelet (1680) uses it for the bezel of a watch, Larousse (1872) for the hole of the guillotine, and the rear window of a car was a ''lunette arrière'' by 1912.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The ''serpent à lunettes'', the cobra, is in the ''Encyclopédie'' (1765), and ''lunettes de cheval'' “blinkers” in 1678.^(TLFi) Cotgrave (1611) records it for a bird's wishbone.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – A small round ornament, in ''L'Escoufle''.^(TLFi)

+ * 2nd half of the 13th century – The glass of a round mirror.^(TLFi)

+ * 1398 – ''Lunettes'' “spectacles”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1579 – A telescope.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – A bird's wishbone, in Cotgrave.^(BHVF)

+ * 1676 – A round opening; a privy seat (Félibien).^(TLFi)

+ * 1680 – The bezel of a watch (Richelet).^(TLFi)

+ * 1765 – ''Serpent à lunettes''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1872 – The hole of the guillotine.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1912 – ''Lunette arrière''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''Lunettes'' (plural): [[m|en|glasses]], [[m|en|spectacles]]; also protective goggles.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|telescope]] (refracting): ''lunette astronomique'', ''lunette d'approche''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The seat of a toilet: ''la lunette des cabinets''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A round opening; the hole in the [[m|en|guillotine]] for the victim's neck.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Lunette arrière'': the rear window of a car.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(architecture)'' A [[m|en|lunette]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The bezel of a watch case.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(ornithology)'' The [[m|en|wishbone]].^(Wiktionary)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lune]]

+ * [[besicles]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}