accommodation

Forms

accommodation f (plural accommodations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin accommodātiō, a noun of accommodō (“to fit, adapt”).^[2][3][4] In classical Latin the noun meant “fitting, adaptation”, the sense found in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, and in Medieval Latin it also meant a loan of money, which is the first sense recorded in French.^[2][5] The Petit Robert sees it instead as formed on accommoder.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1395 as a term of customary law, “a free loan”: Boutillier's Somme rurale says that the customary writers call it lending something to another out of courtesy.^[2][5] The TLFi calls this an isolated record.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Next came a sense “means of satisfying someone” in a chronicle of 1455–75, which the FEW reads differently, as “a loan”.^[2][5] From 1566 it meant the act of fitting one thing to another, as a discourse to its purpose,^[2][6] and Furetière records it in 1690 as a legal term for an amicable settlement and for reconciling texts that seem to contradict each other.^[2][5] A theological sense, a way of interpreting Scripture, is recorded in 1845.^[2] Rey describes these older senses as archaic today.^[5]

In the middle of the 19th century the word was taken up in physiology for the change in the curvature of the eye's lens according to the distance of what is seen (1863, Littré), and in linguistics for the partial assimilation of one sound to its neighbour (1868).^[2][5] In psychology, after Piaget, it is the change in a child's mental activity to fit new situations.^[6][7] In Quebec, senses taken from English are recorded: “facilities, comforts” (from 1856), a criticised use, and “meeting someone's needs” (from 1886), now dated or rare,^[8] as is train d'accommodation, a train outside the usual timetable.^[9]

Timeline

• 1395 – Boutillier uses it for a free loan.^[2]
• 1455–75 – A chronicle uses it for a means of satisfying someone.^[2]
• 1566 – H. Estienne uses it for the act of adapting one thing to another.^[2][6]
• 1578 – H. Estienne uses it for the treatment someone receives, in a bad sense.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the legal sense “amicable settlement”.^[2][5]
• 1863 – Littré records the sense in physiology.^[2][5]
• 1868 – First used in linguistics.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of adapting something to a use or purpose, or of adapting oneself to circumstances or to people.^[6][7][10]
2. (physiology) The accommodation of the eye, the focusing that lets it see objects clearly at different distances.^[6][11][4]
3. (biology) The adaptation of an organism to changes in its surroundings.^[4][7]
4. (psychology) In Piaget's theory, the change in mental activity by which a child adjusts to new situations.^[6][7]
5. (linguistics) The partial assimilation of a sound to a neighbouring one.^[10][2]
6. (Quebec, criticised) Facilities and services provided for people's needs and comfort.^[8]

Related words

• accommoder
• accommodement
• raccommoder
• commode
• Latin accommodō

References

1. ^ a b 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 Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ a b Base de données lexicographiques panfrancophone (BDLP), Trésor de la langue française au Québec / Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, bdlp.org
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)