fantôme French · revision 17690

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1160, Roman d'Eneas|origins=grc φάντασμα}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fɑ̃.tom/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fantôme''' ''m'' (plural fantômes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|fantosme]];^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) ''fantôme'' from 1671 (Pomey).^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) The spelling ''phantôme'' was noted in 1740 but judged out of use by Féraud.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|fantosme]], from a southern [[la-vul|*fantauma]] that came from the Greek of Marseille.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) The TLFi and the FEW start from [[grc|*phantagma]], an Ionic form corresponding to [[grc|φάντασμα|tr=phántasma|t=apparition, vision; image; ghost]], which imperial Latin took over as [[m|la|phantasma]]; it was altered at Marseille, through which the word entered the Latin of Gaul.^(TLFi)^(FEW|8, 364b)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Old Occitan had [[m|pro|fantauma]] too.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) Wiktionary gives the simpler chain through Latin, with the TLFi's Massaliot route as an alternative.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The Greek noun belongs to [[m|grc|φαίνω|tr=phaínō|t=to show; to appear]], the family of [[fantasme]], [[fantaisie]] and [[phénomène]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Roman d'Eneas'' (about 1160) speaks of a tree whose leaves hang with dreams, ''de fantosmes et de mençonges'': a deceptive image or illusion.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By 1165 it named the supernatural apparition of a dead person.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It was extended to an imaginary idea or being (1586) and to a very thin person or animal (1690, Furetière), with Ronsard's ''un fantosme de corps'' in the mid-16th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Rabelais (1534) uses ''phantosme'' for a dummy put in a horse's hay to accustom it to corpses.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ From 1644 (Corneille) it is said of a person who has only the appearance of what he should be, and in the 20th century it took technical senses, such as the card that marks the place of a book taken from a shelf (1906).^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) Derivatives include [[fantomatique]] (1807) and the literary ''fantomal'' (1883).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1160 – ''Fantosme'' “illusion” in the ''Roman d'Eneas''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1165 – “Ghost of a dead person” in ''Guillaume d'Angleterre''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1534 – Rabelais uses it for a dummy.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1586 – “Imaginary being or idea”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1671 – The spelling ''fantôme'' in Pomey.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1690 – Furetière: a very thin person.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1807 – The adjective ''fantomatique''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1906 – The library card marking a missing book.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|ghost]], the supernatural apparition of a dead person.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # By extension, a very thin, [[m|en|emaciated]] person or animal.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Something that has only the appearance of a person or thing; a [[m|en|semblance]]: ''un fantôme de roi''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # A person or thing that haunts the mind or memory: ''les fantômes du passé''.^(Le Robert)

+ # An imaginary idea, a [[m|en|chimera]].^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(apposition)'' Existing in name only: ''un gouvernement fantôme''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fantasme]]

+ * [[fantaisie]]

+ * [[grc|φάντασμα|tr=phántasma]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}