émergence

Forms

émergence f (plural émergences)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French émergent + -ence, from the stem of the adjective.^[2][3][1][4] The adjective comes from Latin ēmergēns, the present participle of ēmergō (“to emerge”).^[2][3]

The physics sense (1720) came through English: the TLFi and Rey take it from the optical term emergence, used by Newton in his Opticks of 1704, and it first appears in French in Coste's translation of that work.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in a royal ordinance of 1498, is a legal term meaning “dependency”, a sense that did not last.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

After the early legal use, the word was taken up in optics in 1720 for the coming out of light rays from a medium they have crossed, the sense behind point d'émergence.^[2][5][7] From physics it spread to anatomy, where the émergence d'un nerf is the point where a nerve appears at the surface of the brain or spinal cord (1846),^[2][5] to geology, for the place where a spring comes out of the ground,^[5][7] to botany, for an outgrowth such as the prickles of a rose (1888),^[6] and to philosophy and biology, with G. H. Lewes's theory of emergence (1874).^[5]

The figurative sense “sudden appearance in a series of events or ideas”, now the commonest, dates from after 1950 and comes from the philosophical use of the verb émerger.^[5][7][8] Littré also recorded a figurative sense “pressing circumstance”, a confusion with emergency that has not survived.^[4]

Timeline

• 1498 – A royal ordinance uses it in law for “dependency”.^[2][3]
• 1720 – Coste's translation of Newton's Opticks uses it for light coming out of a medium.^[2][5]
• 1846 – Émergence d'un nerf is recorded in anatomy.^[2][5]
• 1874 – Lewes's theory of emergence gives the word a philosophical and biological sense.^[5]
• 1888 – Larousse records the botanical sense “outgrowth”.^[6]
• After 1950 – It comes to mean the sudden appearance of an idea or fact.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics) The coming out of a radiation or a light ray from a medium it has passed through: point d'émergence.^[7][2]
2. The coming out of a fluid or liquid from a medium, especially the place where a spring rises: l'émergence d'une source.^[7][8][6]
3. (anatomy) The point where a nerve leaves the nervous centre.^[7][6]
4. (botany) An outgrowth on the surface of a stem or leaf, such as a prickle.^[6]
5. (biology) The appearance of a new organ in a phylum.^[7]
6. (figurative) The sudden appearance of an idea, fact or social phenomenon: l'émergence d'un nouveau parti politique.^[7][8]
7. (philosophy) The appearance of one thing or notion out of another without a strictly causal link.^[6][1]

Related words

• émerger
• émergent
• émersion
• immerger
• submerger
• Latin ēmergō
• English emergence

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)