visage French · revision 17461

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=la videō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /vi.zaʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''visage''' ''m'' (plural visages)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fro|vis|-age|t1=face]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|14, 538a) “Vis”, used until the mid-17th century and kept in [[vis-à-vis]], is [[inh|la|vīsus|t=sight; appearance]], the action noun of [[m|la|videō|t=to see]]; it must have taken the sense “face” in popular Latin, as [[it|viso]] shows.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Wiktionary allows a Vulgar Latin “*visāticum” instead.^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Related Romance forms are [[pro|visatge]] and [[pt|visagem]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ About 1100 the ''Chanson de Roland'' says of Ganelon: ''vairs out les oilz e mult fier lu visage'' “his eyes were bright and his face very proud”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old and Middle French built many phrases on it: ''faux visage'' “mask” (1338), ''faire bon'' or ''mauvais visage à'' (late 15th century), ''trouver visage de bois'' “to find the door shut” (1388).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) About 1400 it meant a facial expression, and, from 1342 ''à deux visages'' “two-faced”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''À visage découvert'' is figurative in Montaigne (1580) and literal from 1700.^(TLFi)

+

+ By metonymy it meant the person (1560, Ronsard), whence ''visages pâles'' for white people (1855, after English ''pale-face'').^(TLFi)^(BHVF) The ''socialisme à visage humain'' of Prague in 1968 gave a widely used phrase.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Rey notes that in speech ''visage'' has lost ground to ''figure'' and ''tête''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Visage'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1338 – ''Faux visage'', a mask.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1342 – ''À deux visages'' “two-faced”.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 15th century – ''Faire bon visage'' in Commynes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1560 – The person, in Ronsard.^(TLFi)

+ * 1580 – ''En visage descouvert'' in Montaigne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1855 – ''Visages pâles''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1968 – ''À visage humain''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|face]]: ''un visage rond'', ''se laver le visage''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An expression, look: ''un visage souriant'', ''changer de visage''.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # A person: ''voir de nouveaux visages''.^(Larousse)

+ # The aspect of something: ''la ville offrait un visage de fête'', ''montrer son vrai visage''.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Faire bon visage à'': to be friendly to, ''à visage découvert'': openly.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dévisager]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vis-à-vis]]

+ * [[voir]]

+ * [[visière]]

+ * [[envisager]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}