élasticité

Forms

élasticité f (plural élasticités)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin elasticitās, a scientific Latin derivative of elasticus.^[2][3][4][1] French took it almost at the same time as élastique (1674), which renders the same Latin adjective.^[5] Rey traces that adjective (Pecquet, 1651) to a late Greek variant of a verbal adjective meaning “drawn out, ductile”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is dated 1687 by the Grand Robert and the DHLF, as a term of physics for the property of a body that takes back its shape or volume once the force acting on it stops.^[3][5][6] The TLFi's first firm record is in Hecquet, before 1732.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From physics the word passed into ordinary language: the elasticity of the skin (1798), and suppleness of gait or movement.^[5][6] Voltaire gave it the figurative sense of a mind's readiness to spring back in 1767: L'esprit mis à la gêne perd toute son élasticité (“the mind put under constraint loses all its spring”).^[2][7] The sense “flexibility”, of a person's character or of institutions such as a law or a budget, dates from 1832 (George Sand).^[2][5] Economics uses it for the ratio between the relative changes of two quantities, as of supply and demand.^[6][8]

Timeline

• 1687 – First recorded as a term of physics.^[3][5]
• Before 1732 – Used by Hecquet, cited in the Trévoux dictionary.^[2]
• 1767 – Voltaire uses it of the mind's spring.^[2][5]
• 1798 – Used of the skin.^[5]
• 1832 – George Sand writes of l'élasticité des lois.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics) The property of a body that returns, at least partly, to its original shape and volume when the deforming force stops, elasticity.^[6][8][2]
2. (physiology) The ability of tissues such as arteries, muscles or lungs to stretch and recover.^[8][6]
3. Suppleness and agility, as of a gait.^[8][6]
4. (figurative) The ability to react quickly and recover, resilience.^[6][7]
5. (figurative) Flexibility, room for varied interpretation, as of a rule; of a conscience, a lack of rigour.^[6][8]
6. (economics) The ratio of the relative variation of one quantity to that of another: l'élasticité des prix.^[6][8]

Related words

• élastique
• inélasticité

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)