machine French · revision 17046

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1377, Nicole Oresme|origins=grc μαχανά}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ma.ʃin/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''machine''' ''f'' (plural machines)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|māchina|t=contrivance, device; engine of war; hoist, (figurative) scheme]], an early borrowing of [[grc|μαχανά|tr=mākhanā́]], the Doric form of [[m|grc|μηχανή|tr=mēkhanḗ|t=means; machine; device; trick]] (see [[mécanique]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|6/1, 10a) The Greek word covered any contrivance, sometimes in a bad sense, close to [[m|grc|δόλος|tr=dólos|t=trick, ruse]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg note that the concrete sense prevailed for “machine”, while [[machiner]] and [[machination]], borrowed earlier, kept the sense of scheming.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Compare [[it|macchina]] and [[es|máquina]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nicole Oresme (1377) speaks of ''la machine corporele ou la masse de tous lez corps du monde'', the frame of the universe, a whole as complex as a machine.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The technical sense, a set of mechanisms combined to produce an effect, appears in Amyot (1559), with ''machines et engins de baterie'' “siege engines”, ''machine de guerre'' (1671), stage machinery (1664, Molière) and ''machines hydrauliques'' (1690) followed.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Descartes (1637) used it for the organs of a living body, hence the theory of animals as machines, and Pascal (1658) for what is automatic in man.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ From the theatre came the sense of what moves a plot forward, and then a set of means for steering affairs (1656) and a clever trick (1639), both now gone.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) A ''machine infernale'' was a fire ship (1704), then a bomb for an assassination (1801).^(TLFi) The typewriter was ''la machine'' in 1899, and ''machine à écrire'' is recorded in 1903.^(TLFi) In dated Quebec and Acadian use ''machine'' is a car.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1377 – ''Machine corporele'', Oresme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – A mechanism, Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1637 – The machine of the body, Descartes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1658 – The automatic in man, Pascal.^(TLFi)

+ * 1664 – Stage machinery, Molière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1801 – ''Machine infernale'', a bomb.^(TLFi)

+ * 1903 – ''Machine à écrire''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|machine]]: ''machine à laver'', ''machine à coudre'', ''machine à café'', ''machine à sous''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An engine or locomotive, ''(Quebec, dated)'' a car.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A large organization working like a machine: ''la machine administrative''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A person who acts mechanically, or who is very efficient.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Machine de guerre'': a war engine, ''(figurative)'' a weapon against an opponent.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(theatre)'' Stage machinery.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[machinal]]

+ * [[machinerie]]

+ * [[machinisme]]

+ * [[machiniste]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mécanique]]

+ * [[mécanisme]]

+ * [[machin]]

+ * [[machiner]]

+ * [[machination]]

+ * [[la|māchina]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}