film French · revision 17324

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1889, Balagny, Traité de photographie|origins=ang filmen}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /film/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''film''' ''m'' (plural films)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|en|film|t=membrane, skin; thin layer]], from [[ang|filmen]], used in English photography since 1845 for the coating of gelatine on a plate, and about 1880 for the roll film used in instant photography and then in cinema.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|18, 61b) Rey compares [[goh|fel|t=skin]], [[non|fjall]], [[la|pellis|t=skin]] and [[grc|πέλμα|tr=pélma|t=sole]], usually connected with a root “*pel-” “to cover”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1889 in Balagny's ''Traité de photographie'', in ''papier American film'', meaning a strip of film for instant photography.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 1896 it was applied to cinema film, and by metonymy to the developed film carrying a cinematographic work (Méliès's catalogue, 1896–1897); the sense “a film, a work of cinema” is dated 1896 by Rey and 1912 by the TLFi.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) From 1922 it also meant figuratively a sequence of events, and recently ''ne rien comprendre au film'' “not to understand what is going on”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Taken again from English, it came to mean a thin layer of a substance: the TLFi dates this to 1931, but a coat of car paint is called a ''film'' in 1927 and dental film is advertised in 1933.^(TLFi)^(BHVF) ''Feuil'' has been proposed as a French equivalent.^(DHLF 1992) The verb ''filmer'' dates from 1908, and ''microfilm'' from 1931.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1889 – Photographic film.^(TLFi)

+ * 1896 – Cinema film.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1908 – The verb ''filmer''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1912 – “A film, a work of cinema”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1922 – Figuratively, a sequence of events.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1927 – A thin layer.^(BHVF)

+ * 1931 – ''Microfilm''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Photographic [[m|en|film]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Cinema film: ''un film de 35 mm''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A film, a [[m|en|movie]]: ''tourner un film'', ''un film en version originale''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Cinema as an art: ''festival du film''.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' The course of events: ''le film des événements'', ''(familiar)'' ''ne rien comprendre au film''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A thin layer, coating: ''un film protecteur''.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # [[m|en|cling film]]: ''film alimentaire''.^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[filmer]]

+ * [[filmique]]

+ * [[filmographie]]

+ * [[microfilm]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|film]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}