adulte

Forms

adulte (plural adultes)^[1] First recorded as aduls (1394); the form adulte is a remaking of the 16th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin adultus (“grown up”), the past participle of adolēscō (“to grow up”), used especially in adulta virgo (“marriageable girl”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The present participle of the same verb gave adolescent.^[1][5]

Compare Occitan adulto, Catalan adult, Spanish adulto and Italian adulto.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1394 in the Livre des Bouillons of Bordeaux, of a man who has reached the end of childhood: aduls, c'est assavoir greigneurs de .XIIII. ans “adults, that is, older than fourteen”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century the word was close to what adolescent means today, and Furetière (1690) still defines it as one who is entering adolescence; it took its present sense only at the end of the 17th century.^[3][2] It was used as a noun from 1570, as a byname of Jupiter, and Furetière notes that the noun was hardly used outside theology; it entered everyday language at the beginning of the 19th century.^[2][3] It was applied to animals (1699), to plants (1814) and figuratively to languages (1845).^[2][3]

Courses and schools pour adultes date from 1835.^[3] In the 20th century the word came to mean psychological maturity, and pour adultes took on a sexual sense under the influence of American English adult.^[3]

Timeline

• 1394 – Aduls in a Bordeaux record.^[2]
• 16th century – The remade form adulte.^[3]
• 1570 – The noun, as a byname of Jupiter.^[2][8]
• 1690 – Furetière defines it as “entering adolescence”.^[2]
• 1699 – Of animals.^[2]
• 1814 – Of plants, in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.^[2]
• 1835 – Cours d'adultes.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a living being: fully grown, mature: un animal adulte, une plante adulte, l'âge adulte, from the end of adolescence to old age.^[9][8]
2. Of a person: mature in mind and behaviour, as opposed to infantile.^[9][3]
3. (figurative) Of things: fully developed.^[9][2]

Noun

1. An adult, a grown man or woman: un film réservé aux adultes.^[9][8]

Word family

• adultisme

Related words

• adolescent
• Latin adultus

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 c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique 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. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 186b
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert