acidité

Forms

acidité f (plural acidités)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin aciditās, derived from acidus (“sour”).^[2][3][4] The Late Latin word is recorded from about 408 as a medical term, in Marcellus.^[2] Wiktionary analyses it as from French acide + -ité.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1545 in Guillaume Guéroult's Histoire des plantes, for the sour, sharp taste of the leaves of a dock: une acidité manifeste en ses feuilles.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In 1546 Charles Estienne used it in medicine of a sour humour, and Paré wrote of acidité et aigreur in the 16th century.^[2][6] Furetière defined it in 1690 as the sourish quality of acids, the start of its chemical use,^[2] which grew in the early 19th century;^[3] in modern chemistry it is the concentration of hydrogen ions in a medium.^[2] Figurative uses, of a biting remark or tone, appear in the early 20th century.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1545 – First recorded in Guéroult's Histoire des plantes.^[2]
• 1546 – Charles Estienne uses it of a bodily humour.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the chemical sense.^[2]
• Early 20th century – Figurative sense “causticity”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. sourness, a sour taste: l'acidité d'une pomme verte.^[7][8]
2. (figurative) causticity, a biting quality: l'acidité de son ton.^[7][8]
3. (chemistry) The acid quality of a substance, its concentration in hydrogen ions; opposed to alcalinité.^[7][2]
4. (medicine) Acidité gastrique: the proportion of hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice.^[7][8]

Word family

• hyperacidité

Related words

• acide
• acidifier
• Latin acidus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d 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)