accélération

Forms

accélération f (countable and uncountable, plural accélérations)^[1] Middle French acceleracion.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin accelerātiō, a noun of action from accelerō (“to hasten”).^[2][4][1] The verb is formed on the adjective celer (“quick”).^[3] The Latin noun is found only once in classical Latin, as a term of rhetoric for speeding up one's delivery; it was taken up again in Christian Latin and is well attested in Medieval Latin.^[2][3] Wiktionary also notes that the French word can be analysed as accélérer with the suffix -ation.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial, dated 1327 but known from an edition of 1495, has the sense of doing something more quickly: la crudelité et acceleration de peine.^[2][3] A record of 1349 speaks of hastening a payment.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant the act of doing something faster; by the early 16th century it also meant a rapid movement or promptness.^[2][3] The Dictionnaire de Trévoux of 1701 gives it as a term of physics, the increase in the speed of a moving body, crediting Galileo with finding its law; from there it spread to astronomy (1776) and medicine (1845), where one speaks of the acceleration of the pulse.^[2][3] In the 20th century it entered mechanics (1928), motoring, aviation and economics (all recorded in 1964).^[2] Quemada's datings note an earlier use of the physics sense of a change in speed per unit of time than the TLFi had found.^[6]

Timeline

• 1327 – Jean de Vignay uses acceleration for doing something more quickly (edition of 1495).^[2]
• 1349 – An archival record speaks of the acceleracion of a payment.^[2][5]
• 1508–1517 – Fossetier uses it for a rapid movement or promptness.^[2]
• 1701 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records it as a term of physics.^[2][3]
• 1776 – Astronomy: the daily acceleration of the stars.^[2]
• 1845 – Medical use: the acceleration of the pulse or of the blood.^[2][3]
• 1964 – Uses in motoring, aviation and economics are recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An increase in speed: l'accélération d'un train.^[7][5]
2. (figurative) A quickening, the fact of going faster: l'accélération du pouls, l'accélération des travaux.^[7][8]
3. (physics) The rate at which velocity changes over time: accélération de la pesanteur.^[7]
4. (economics) Principe d'accélération: the relation between the output of finished goods and that of the means of production.^[7][2]

Related words

• accélérer
• accélérateur
• décélération
• célérité
• Latin accelerātiō

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 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 d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette