abduction

Forms

abduction f (plural abductions)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin abductiō (“a leading away, carrying off”), a noun from abdūcō (“to lead away”), formed from ab- (“away”) and dūcō (“to lead”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin noun is recorded since Plautus, and in the sense of captivity since Saint Ambrose.^[2] It had no known medical use, though the verb is once used medically in 1075.^[2] The French word kept the idea of a movement away from a centre, which came from the Latin verb.^[2]

Picoche groups it with abducteur (both 16th century) and adduction in the family of the Latin verb.^[6] Cognate with Italian abduzione, Spanish abducción, Catalan abducció.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1541 in Jehan Canappe's Tableaux anatomiques, as an anatomical term for the movement that takes a limb away from the midline of the body: les abductions sont plus fortes que les adductions.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The anatomical sense is the oldest and the only one that reached the common language.^[2] Paré used it in the 16th century of the fingers moving away from the thumb, and the Dictionnaire de Trévoux (1752) gave it for the muscles of the thumb and of the eye; the 1771 edition alone records it for a fracture whose broken ends stand apart.^[2][5]

In logic, the word names a syllogism whose major premise is certain and whose minor premise is only probable, so that the conclusion is merely probable; it was recorded by the Académie in 1798 and in its supplement of 1842, but many dictionaries ignore it.^[2][7] An early 19th-century attempt by General Bardin to use it in military tactics, for moving files to the rear, did not last.^[2]

Timeline

• 1541 – Jehan Canappe uses it in anatomy.^[2][4]
• 16th century – Paré writes of the abduction des doigts.^[5][2]
• 1752 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the anatomical sense.^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie records it as a term of logic.^[7][2]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement records the logical and military senses.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy, physiology) A movement that draws a limb or part of a limb away from the median plane of the body; the opposite of adduction.^[8][2][9]
2. (logic) A form of reasoning whose major premise is certain and whose minor premise is only probable, so that the conclusion is only probable; abduction.^[2][9][1]

Word family

• abducteur

Related words

• adduction
• Latin abdūcō

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 k l m n o p q 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. ^ 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ a b Académie française (1798), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 5th ed., Paris: Smits
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)