adaptation

Forms

adaptation f (plural adaptations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin adaptātiō (“a bringing together of two things on account of shared qualities”),^[2][1][3] a word recorded from the 12th century in Saint Bernard, who used it for matching two unlike series, and later in the practice of preaching.^[2] The noun comes from Latin adaptō (“to fit, adjust”), from aptus (“fitted”).^[1][4][5]

The FEW, the GLLF and Littré treat it as a derivative of adapter;^[2][6][7] the TLF-Étym rejects this, and also rejects the 13th-century first record that the FEW and Rey give, since the text Godefroy cites is probably of the 15th century.^[2][8] The biological sense is a calque of the English word adaptation, which Darwin used in 1859 and had found in William Paley; it entered French through Clémence Royer's translation of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1862.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, from after 1451, is in Robert Ciboule's mystical Livre de sainte méditation, where the reader is told to consider in his body the order and adaptacion of the limbs, how they serve and help one another.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word spread only in the 16th century, for the act of adapting or fitting one thing to another (1501) or adjusting it (1561).^[8][9] Rhetoric soon used it for the fitness of a word to the idea (1539, Gracien du Pont) and of a work to a situation (1578).^[8][2] Cotgrave, the first dictionary to list it (1611), glosses it “an adapting, fitting, or suiting of one thing to another”.^[2]

The rhetorical sense was thought old-fashioned in the 18th century, then revived about 1890 with a new value: the reworking of a work into another form, first of a narrative for the stage, then, from 1912, for the cinema.^[8] The biological sense, the fitting of a living being or organ to its conditions of life, came in 1862 with the French translation of Darwin.^[2][8]

English took adaptation from French about 1600.^[10]

Timeline

• After 1451 – Adaptacion in Robert Ciboule's Livre de sainte méditation.^[2]
• 1501 – Used for the act of adapting or fitting.^[8][9][3]
• 1539 – Gracien du Pont uses it in rhetoric.^[2][8][6]
• 1561 – Used for adjusting.^[8]
• 1578 – The fitness of a work to a situation.^[8]
• c. 1600 – English borrows it.^[10]
• 1611 – Cotgrave is the first dictionary to list it.^[2]
• 1862 – Clémence Royer's translation of Darwin introduces the biological sense.^[2]
• 1890 – The reworking of a work into a new form.^[8]
• 1912 – Adaptation of a story for the cinema.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of adapting or of adapting oneself, and the change that results: l'adaptation des horaires aux besoins des familles.^[3][11]
2. (biology) The fitting of an organism or a species to its conditions of life, which lets it survive and reproduce, adaptation;^[3][11][12] faculté d'adaptation: a person's ability to change their behaviour to suit new circumstances.^[3][11][12]
3. The reworking of a literary or musical work for another medium or audience, and the new work that results: une adaptation de ce roman pour le théâtre.^[6][12][3]

Word family

• inadaptation
• réadaptation
• suradaptation

Related words

• adapter
• adaptable
• inadapté
• apte
• aptitude
• Medieval Latin adaptātiō
• English adaptation

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 Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c 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