abcès

Forms

abcès m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin abscessus (“a going away, departure”), a medical term in Latin,^[2][3] from abscēdō (“to go away, withdraw”), formed from ab- and cēdō (“to go, yield”).^[3][4] In classical Latin the noun only meant “departure”; its medical sense translates Ancient Greek ἀπόστημα (apóstēma), properly “distance, separation”, which Greek medicine had used for a breaking down or corruption of tissue and so for a gathering of pus.^[2][3] Like many French medical words it was borrowed in the 16th century.^[3] The Greek word itself gave the older French apostume, of the same meaning.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1537, meaning a collection of pus in the body.^[3][2][4] The Grand Larousse dates it to 1539, in a work of the physician Jean Canappe.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its medical sense of a pocket of pus.^[3][6] From the figurative phrase crever l’abcès, “to lance the abscess”, that is, to root out an evil (17th century), it came in the mid-20th century to stand for a critical situation that calls for a quick and drastic solution.^[3] Abcès de fixation, first an abscess provoked by an injection of turpentine to localise a general infection, is used with the same image for something that draws off and contains a danger.^[6][3]

The related verb abcéder “to form an abscess”, first spelled abscéder, was borrowed from Latin abscedere about the same time (1537 or 1539).^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1537 – First record of abcès, and of the verb abscéder.^[3][2]
• 1539 – Jean Canappe uses the word.^[5]
• 17th century – The figurative phrase crever l’abcès appears.^[3]
• 20th century – Abcès de fixation is recorded.^[3]
• Mid-20th century – Abcès is used of a critical situation needing a drastic solution.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) An abscess: a pocket of pus formed in a tissue or organ: abcès chaud, abcès froid.^[6][7]
2. Abcès de fixation: an artificial abscess provoked to localise a general infection; figuratively, something that channels and contains a danger.^[6][7]
3. Crever or vider l’abcès: (figurative) to settle a critical, festering situation by drastic means.^[6][7][5]

Related words

• abcéder
• apostume
• céder
• Latin abscessus

Usage notes

Littré notes that the final ⟨s⟩ is usually not pronounced in liaison in conversation (as in l’abcès est ouvert), though it may be in careful reading.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette