This is one of those words that always eludes me no matter how many times I look it up, and I’m hoping that writing about it will implant it more firmly in my brain. I’m reading Samuil A. Lurie’s Изломанный аршин [‘Broken cubit-ruler,’ an insulting nineteenth-century term for a merchant] (see this post) and enjoying it immensely; after brilliantly annotating a poem Pushkin wrote in the hope of flattering the aged Prince Yusupov into being proxy father at his upcoming wedding (it did the trick), Lurie says it’s a very pleasant work, and that if it were a Petersburg building “считалось бы эталоном т. н. фоновой застройки” — it would be considered an etalon of background architecture, the kind of building you cast an approving glance at as you walk past.
“Etalon, what the hell is an etalon,” I muttered internally as I reached for my dictionary to learn once again that it is a “standard (of weights and measures).” I figured it must come from French, and sure enough my Concise Oxford French Dictionary had étalon with the definition “standard (of weights and measures).” The etymology was given simply as “OF estel,” which wasn’t satisfying, so I turned to the OED, which surprised me by having an entry (from 1972) étalon | etalon, n., though with a very different definition: “A device used to produce interfering beams of light, consisting essentially of two plane parallel reflecting plates of fixed separation and (in some kinds) adjustable orientation.” Their etymology was “< French étalon (Fabry & Pérot 1902, in Ann. de Chimie et Physique XXV. 107), lit. ‘a standard (of weights, measures, etc.)’ < Old French estalon, estelon probably of Germanic origin: see stallion n.” I didn’t find the stallion origin particularly convincing, so I turned to the fifth edition of the AHD for something more up-to-date, and found it defined as “A type of interferometer in which incoming light is repeatedly refracted and reflected between two surfaces into multiple beams that are then focused together, causing self-interference of the light,” with this etymology:
French étalon, standard (of weight or a unit of measurement), reference point, etalon (in reference to the fixed widths between the two surfaces in the first such interferometers) < Old French estalon, standard, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch stael, model, sample.
So now you know as much about etalons as I do, and maybe the next time I run into эталон I’ll think “Ah yes, not a stallion but a standard.”
The TLFI is down right now, but when it’s up, someone should see if there’s an entry for étalon.
As someone who is around people who use Fabry-Perot interferometers (what the AHD definition refers to), yes, in English an etalon is the pair of (really good) mirrors that bounce the light back and forth between them. Obviously F&P introduced the usage from a more common French word, and it was taken from them into English, where it makes a good short name for a particular device (one used also in many types of lasers).
I have also seen it used, rarely, to refer to a physical standard, such as the reference meter bar (not the standard any longer) or kilogram (which still relies on an actual object).
Somehow I would think exemplar would be the word to describe the building.
The Germanic word must have meant something like “rigid”, becoming the term for hardened iron, e.g. ON stálr and Eng. steel. The ON word even means “layer of grass or grains in a stack” and “the built-up front of a ship”. There’s also ON stallr with meanings like “(heathen) altar”, “base of a ship’s mast”, “(horse) stable; box or cradle in stable”.
(I’m not sure about the exact relationship between the words with long and short vowels.)
Somehow I would think exemplar would be the word to describe the building.
Yes, if one were translating the book (a largely hopeless task, since it’s virtually nothing but clever allusions to obscure bits of Russian culture), that would be an excellent choice in this context.
When someone moans about what amounts to semantic shifts, I will remember this wild-goose chase of an etymology. When someone sniffs that a comparison between two forms in two languages is a little iffy on the semantics, I will remember this post.
My two-bits : most russian borrowings from French, such as “эталон” can be traced to 19th century. My reference dictionary of classic French is “le” Littré, 1863-1877 ed.; there, étalon when not referring to a stallion, is the “legal model of a measure or weight”.
Emile Littré traces its origin to :
“Bas-lat. stalo, stallo, dans des textes du XIIIe siècle. Ce mot, qui signifie aussi baliveau, est le même que l’ancien français estaillon, qui signifiait un pieu d’un chariot, et tient à l’ancien haut allemand stihil, pieu : un bâton ayant été pris pour étalon des mesures de longueur, et puis, par extension, des poids. Comparez l’anglais standard, qui signifie à la fois étalon et étendard.” (E. Littré)
Here goes from late latin “stallo” to Hochdeutsch “Stihil” through old french “estaillon” — a rod used as a measuring standard, and from there any standard of measure.
Note that the metric system was originally based on a “mètre-étalon”, a rod of platinum, later replaced with platinum-iridium alloy. This legal but controversial “étalon” went obsolete around 1960 with a new international standard — a multiple of the wavelength of one peculiar ray in Krypton-86 spectrum. I’m no physicist but couldn’t it be your clue to the english use of “etalon” for an interferometer?
Now, please explain to me one Littré’s riddle. In the text I quoted, why does he link both english meanings of “standard” : the, er, “étalon” (of measure) and the flag of sorts ?
P.S.: the technical French “étalonnage” translates quite precisely to calibration. Unfortunately, you can’t translate “étalon” by caliber.
My preferred translation will be “archetype” — which should model well enough the scenic architecture.
checking XIX c. Russian Google books, one can see that the word is used almost exclusively in a scientific /engineering context, and frequently with an adjective “exemplary” or with an explanation “perfect example” (образецъ) in parens
I am just realized that when Major General Stanley says (well, sings) “I am the very model of the modern Major General” that’s what Russians mean by эталон.
TLFI is still down, or down again, whichever.
Not for me, it’s not. Here’s their entry:
ÉTALON2, subst. masc.
A.— MÉTROL. Modèle de poids ou de mesure, appareil établi avec une extrême précision et sous l’autorité et la garantie de l’État, qui sert de référence pour les autres mesures ou appareils de poids et mesures. L’étalon du mètre conservé à Paris au Bureau international des poids et mesures (CARREL, L’Homme, 1935, p. 34) :
— P. ext. Tout ce qui (objet, résultat d’expérience, propriété d’un corps) sert officiellement ou conventionnellement de point de référence. Étalon d’aune, de boisseau, de livre (Ac. 1798-1878); étalon de mètre, de litre, de gramme (Ac. 1835-1932); rectifier un poids à l’étalon (Ac. 1835-1932); étalon de mesure, de temps. Synon. type, prototype.
♦ En appos. Poids étalons (LENORMAND, Simoun, 1921, p. 17). Fréquence étalon, temps étalon (cf. DÉCAUX, Mesure temps, 1959, p. 36). L’année 1960 a vu le remplacement du mètre étalon par une longueur d’onde (Hist. gén. sc., t. 3, vol. 1, 1961, p. 174).
SYNT. [Dans les domaines de sc. phys. et électron.] Étalons atomiques, primaires, secondaires; étalon de fréquence, à quartz.
— Spéc., MONNAIE.
♦ Étalon monétaire. Métal précieux de poids et de titre déterminé, choisi pour fabriquer la pièce type d’un État. ,,Poids de métal précieux correspondant à l’unité monétaire“ (PHÉL. 1975). Un étalon monétaire est un métal précieux : l’or ou l’argent, parfois le cuivre (LESOURD, GÉRARD, Hist. écon., 1968, p. 35).
♦ Étalon-or. ,,Système monétaire dans lequel la monnaie est définie par rapport à l’or“ (CIDA 1973). Français et Américains ont cru que l’abandon de l’étalon-or ferait perdre à la Cité le marché des capitaux de l’univers (MORAND, Londres, 1933, p. 297).
♦ Double étalon. Système monétaire dans lequel la monnaie est définie par rapport à l’or et à l’argent. Cf. SHAW, Hist. monnaie, 1896, p. 156.
B.— Au fig. Ce qui sert de point de comparaison, de référence. Synon. modèle, archétype. Étalon de beauté, de valeur :
— PSYCHOL. Groupe étalon. Groupe de personnes répondant à certaines caractéristiques auquel on applique en premier lieu un test pour établir des normes (cf. FOULQ. 1971, PIÉRON 1973).
Prononc. et Orth. : [etalɔ̃]. Ds Ac. dep. 1694. Étymol. et Hist. A. 1. Ca 1180 estalon « pieu, poteau » (A. DE PARIS, Alexandre, III, 4667 ds Elliott Monographs 37, p. 247); 2. 1340-41 « baliveau de l’âge de la dernière coupe » (doc. champ. d’apr. FEW t. 17, p. 211a); 3. 1606 « cheville reliant deux pièces de bois enchâssées dans des mortaises » (NICOT); 4. 1676 « ais posé à terre sur lequel les charpentiers tracent l’épure d’une charpente » (FÉLIBIEN Dict., p. 585). B. 1. 1322 « modèle légal de mesure, représentation matérielle d’une unité de mesure » (Document ds MORLET, p. 322); 1890 adj. mètres-étalons (Lar. 19e Suppl.); 2. 1846 « métal sur lequel est fondée la valeur d’une unité monétaire » (BALZAC, Cous. Bette, p. 394). A dér. de l’a. fr. estal, estel « pieu, poteau » (fin du XIIe s. ds Z. fr. Spr. Lit. t. 43, 1, p. 111; GDF., s.v. estal), lui-même issu de l’a. b. frq. *stalo « id. », cf. le m. néerl. stale « id. » (VERDAM), stele « manche, tige », néerl. steel « id. ». B, peut-être issu d’un a. b. frq. *stalo « modèle de mesure », est attesté en ce sens en lat. médiév. (1275 stalonnus ds DU CANGE; 1282 stalo, ibid.); ses rapports avec A restent encore à éclaircir, v. R. Ling. rom. t. 23, p. 222; FEW t. 17, p. 212; on peut le rapprocher du m. néerl. stael « échantillon, modèle » (VERDAM).
This time you get the HTML Award.
Thanks, that was a ridiculous amount of work, but once I started I couldn’t stop!