électricien

Forms

électricien m (plural électriciens, feminine électricienne)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French électricité + -ien, from its stem.^[2][3][4][5] The base (1720) is borrowed from New Latin electricitas, from ēlectrum (“amber”), from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “yellow amber”), because amber, when rubbed, attracts light bodies.^[5] The DHLF notes that the English word electrician is earlier (1751, Franklin).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi first finds it in 1764, in Nollet's paper in the Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences, for a physicist working on electricity; the DHLF dates this sense to 1752 and the Grand Robert to 1754.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word covered everyone who studied electricity, by experiment as well as in its applications.^[7] With the industrial and domestic uses of electricity in the second half of the 19th century it came to mean a worker or technician who installs and repairs electrical equipment (1861).^[2][6] The old sense of a physicist is now rare.^[2] The feminine électricienne seems to be recent.^[6]

Timeline

• 1720 – The base électricité is recorded.^[5]
• 1752 – First record according to the DHLF, for a physicist.^[6]
• 1764 – Nollet uses it in the Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences.^[2][4]
• 1861 – The modern sense of an electrical technician appears in the Presse scientifique.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An electrician, a technician or worker who installs and repairs electrical equipment; also in apposition, ouvrier électricien, ingénieur électricien.^[8][2]
2. (cinema) Chef électricien: the person in charge of the electrical connections and their safety on a film set.^[8]
3. (rare) Specialist in the physics of electricity.^[2]

Related words

• électricité
• électrique
• électriser
• English electrician

References

1. ^ a b 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert