forme French · revision 17278

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 11th century, Rashi's glosses|origins=la fōrma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fɔʁm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''forme''' ''f'' (plural formes)^(Wiktionary)

+ In the Middle Ages also ''fourme'', ''furme''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|fōrma|t=mould; shape, form; beauty]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 713b) Rey and the Petit Robert note that the Latin word seems linked to [[grc|μορφή|tr=morphḗ|t=shape]] by a metathesis, perhaps borrowed through Etruscan.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Wiktionary treats it as inherited through Old French.^(Wiktionary) The popular form of the same word survives in [[fromage]], cheese shaped in a mould, and in [[fourme]], through Provençal.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Cognate with [[ro|formă]], [[it|forma]], [[es|forma]] and [[de|Form]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first record (late 11th century, in Rashi's glosses) is technical: the last on which shoes are made.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Philippe de Thaon (1119) has it for the visible shape of a thing.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 12th century it meant the features that make a being recognizable (Wace, 1155), and ''en forme de'' “in the shape of” is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165).^(TLFi) As in Latin, it named things that shape others or have a characteristic shape: a bench (about 1200), a hare's form (about 1330), a dry dock (1386), a printer's forme (1549), a hat block (1636), whence ''haut-de-forme''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Abstract senses came from scholastic Latin: the philosophical form (1270), a way of proceeding (1280), and the way a thought is expressed (14th century).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In law it is the outward shape of an act (1549), whence ''en bonne et due forme'' (1700) and ''sans autre forme de procès'' (1585); in the plural ''les formes'' are good manners.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) From racing (''Le Sport'', 1862) came ''être en forme'', ''en pleine forme''.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 11th century – A shoemaker's last, in Rashi's glosses.^(TLFi)

+ * 1119 – Visible shape, Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1165 – ''En forme de''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1270 – The philosophical form.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – A printer's forme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1585 – ''Sans autre forme de procès''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – ''Forme de chapeau''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1862 – Physical condition, of a racehorse.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|shape]], form; outline: ''en forme de cœur'', ''prendre forme''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A figure, a silhouette seen indistinctly, (plural) the curves of the body.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A kind, type, variety: ''une forme de gouvernement'', ''(grammar)'' ''la forme du pluriel''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The way something is expressed or presented, opposed to the content: ''la forme et le fond''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(law)'' The outward form of an act: ''vice de forme'', ''en bonne et due forme'', (plural) good manners: ''y mettre les formes''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Physical or mental condition: ''être en forme'', ''en pleine forme''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|mould]]; a shoemaker's last; a hat block.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[plate-forme]]

+ * [[reformer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[difforme]]

+ * [[formel]]

+ * [[former]]

+ * [[formulaire]]

+ * [[formule]]

+ * [[informe]]

+ * [[fromage]]

+ * [[la|fōrma]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}