égoïsme

Forms

égoïsme m (plural égoïsmes)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ego (“I, me”), formed with the suffix -isme.^[2][3][4] It is a learned formation, like égoïste, recorded somewhat earlier.^[3][5] Etymonline traces it through a Modern Latin form egoismus.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Encyclopédie (1755) says that the writers of Port-Royal, who avoided speaking of themselves in the first person, ridiculed that habit under the name égoïsme, a word since adopted into the language.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Rey date the word from 1743, in the sense of a habit of talking about oneself and referring everything to oneself;^[4][8][5] the BHVF notes that the 1743 record belongs to another sense,^[7] and doubts the GLLF's end-of-17th-century date taken from the Encyclopédie.^[7][9] The sense of talking about oneself is now literary.^[5][2]

From 1789 (Sieyès) it means the excessive attachment to oneself that puts one's own interest above that of others, the usual sense today.^[2][5] The philosophical sense, the doctrine that one can be sure only of one's own existence (égoïsme métaphysique), is now called solipsisme;^[9][5] psychoanalysis has used the word since the early 20th century for the ego's interest in itself.^[5] English egoism was borrowed in 1785, first in the metaphysical sense.^[6]

Timeline

• 1743 – Date given by the Robert dictionaries and Rey.^[4][8][5]
• 1755 – The Encyclopédie records it of speaking of oneself in the first person.^[2][3]
• 1785 – English egoism is borrowed from French.^[6]
• 1789 – Sieyès uses it of the subordination of others' interest to one's own.^[2][5]
• 1870 – Larousse records the philosophical and biological senses.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Selfishness, an excessive attachment to oneself that puts one's own interest before that of others.^[8][10][2]
2. By extension, the tendency of a group's members to put the group's interest first: égoïsme de classe, égoïsme familial.^[8][10]
3. (dated, literary) The habit of talking about oneself and referring everything to oneself; egotism.^[8][2]
4. (philosophy, dated) The doctrine that one can be sure only of one's own existence; solipsism.^[9][11]
5. (dated) The instincts and tendencies that lead an individual to preserve and develop itself.^[9][11]

Related words

• égoïste
• égotisme
• altruisme
• Latin ego

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette