plane English · revision 3717

+ English has three main words spelled ''plane'': the tool for smoothing wood, the tree and the flat surface, which also gave the aircraft; the tool and the surface come from Latin plānus “flat”, the tree from Greek plátanos.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pleɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|tool}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1349–50|origins=la plānus}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The tool is [[bor|fro|plane]], earlier plaine,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) and perhaps directly [[der|la-lat|plāna|t=a planing tool]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a back-formation from [[m|la-lat|plānāre|t=to make level]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|plānus|t=level, flat, smooth]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*pele-|t=flat; to spread]].^(Etymonline) The verb is from Old French planer “to smooth, level off” and directly from Late Latin plānāre.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The verb, first figurative, “to gloss over, explain away”: before 1325, in ''Cursor Mundi'',^(Barnhart 1988) or the early 14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The noun, a tool like a plasterer's trowel, is from 1349–50 in the OED,^(OED 1989) 1350 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ “To make smooth or even”, especially with a plane, is from the mid-14th century;^(Etymonline) in early use the verb was often spelled plain.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The carpenter's tool for levelling and smoothing wood is from about 1440.^(OED 1989) The [[planer]] is from 1413.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1325 – verb, to gloss over.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1349–50 – a smoothing tool.^(OED 1989)

+ * mid-14th century – to make smooth.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1413 – ''planer''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1440 – a carpenter's plane.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A tool with an adjustable blade for smoothing and shaping wood.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To smooth or shape with a plane.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[planer]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|tree}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1382|origins=grc πλάτανος}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The tree is [[inh|enm|plane]],^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|plane]], earlier plasne,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|platanus]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[grc|πλάτανος|tr=plátanos|t=plane tree]], earlier platanistos,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) probably of foreign origin^(Barnhart 1988) but associated with [[m|grc|πλατύς|tr=platús|t=broad]], from the shape of its leaves.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) It is related to [[platypus]] and [[place]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A tree of the genus Platanus: 1382 in the OED,^(OED 1989) before 1382 in the Wycliffe Bible according to Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The tree is native to Persia and the Levant.^(Etymonline) Since 1778, in Scotland and the north of England, the name has been applied to the [[sycamore]] maple, whose leaves look like those of the true plane.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1382 – the plane tree.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1778 – the sycamore, in Scotland.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A tall tree of the genus Platanus, with broad leaves and bark that peels in flakes; a [[sycamore]] in North America.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[plane tree]]

+

+ {{homograph|3|flat surface; aircraft}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=early 15th century|origins=la plānus}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The flat surface is [[bor|la|plānum|t=flat surface, level ground]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) the noun use of the neuter of [[m|la|plānus|t=flat, level, plain]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*pla-no-]], a suffixed form of [[ine-pro|*pele-|t=flat; to spread]].^(Etymonline) It was introduced, perhaps under the influence of French plan, to separate the geometrical senses from [[plain]], its doublet.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The verb “to soar” is from Old French planer “to hover”, from plan “plane”, of a bird gliding with flattened wings.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The aircraft is a shortening of [[aeroplane]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The verb “to soar, glide”: 1410, in Walton's translation of Boethius,^(Barnhart 1988) the early 15th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The noun, a flat surface: about 1600 in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) 1604 in Merriam-Webster^(MWU 2024) and 1646 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988) The adjective is from 1666.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A level of existence or thought, of things, is from 1850.^(Etymonline) [[aeroplane]], first recorded in 1866, combined aero- with plane, the surface meant to keep an aircraft aloft, imagined as flat; it was used for the vehicle from 1873, and [[airplane]] from 1907.^(AHD) ''Plane'', the aircraft, is first recorded in April 1908.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) An American flies in an airplane and a Briton in an aeroplane, but both catch a plane.^(AHD) Of boats skimming over the water, the verb is from 1913.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1410 – verb, to soar.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1600 – a flat surface.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1666 – adjective, flat.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1850 – a level of existence.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1866 – ''aeroplane''.^(AHD)

+ * 1908 – an aircraft.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1913 – of a boat, to skim.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A flat or level surface.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # In geometry, a surface containing every straight line joining any two points on it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A level of development or existence: ''a higher plane''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An [[airplane]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A wing or other supporting surface of an aircraft.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Flat; level.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Lying in a plane: ''plane geometry''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To fly or glide.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Of a boat, to skim along the surface of the water.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[airplane]]

+ * [[aeroplane]]

+ * [[biplane]]

+ * [[seaplane]]

+ * [[planar]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[plain]]

+ * [[planate]]

+ * [[plan]]

+ * [[planet]]

+ * [[platypus]]

+ * [[place]]

+ * [[floor]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Northumberland mining a ''plane'' was a main road along which coal was hauled by engine power.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}