alimentaire

Forms

alimentaire (plural alimentaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin alimentārius,^[2][3][4][5] a term of Roman law meaning “relating to food and the upkeep of persons” and, as a noun, a person receiving an allowance for food.^[2] The Latin adjective is derived from alimentum (“food, nourishment”).^[3][4][6] Wiktionary instead analyses it as French aliment with the suffix -aire.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

B. Palissy used it in 1580 in the sense “fit to serve as food”, in the phrase chose alimentaire.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1606 Charron used it as a noun for a person who receives food or a living from another, a sense that survives only as a term of legal history.^[2] In law the adjective means “serving to feed and maintain a person”: pension alimentaire is recorded about 1650 and provision alimentaire in Furetière's dictionary of 1690.^[3][2]

In physiology conduit alimentaire dates from 1751 and ration alimentaire and bol alimentaire from 1814.^[3] The concrete sense “relating to food” gave common phrases such as pâtes alimentaires (1866), produits alimentaires and industrie alimentaire, and the compound agroalimentaire.^[3] Figuratively, and pejoratively, it describes work done only to earn a living, as in littérature alimentaire.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1580 – B. Palissy writes of chose alimentaire.^[2]
• 1606 – Charron uses it as a noun for a person who is fed by another.^[2]
• c. 1650 – Pension alimentaire is recorded.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records pension alimentaire and provision alimentaire.^[2][3]
• 1751 – Conduit alimentaire appears in physiology.^[3]
• 1814 – Ration alimentaire and bol alimentaire appear.^[3]
• 1866 – Pâtes alimentaires is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fit to serve as food: produits alimentaires, pâtes alimentaires.^[7][5]
2. Relating to food or nutrition: régime alimentaire, industrie alimentaire.^[7][8]
3. Bol alimentaire: the mass of chewed food that is swallowed.^[6][7]
4. (law) Relating to the means of support owed to a person: pension alimentaire, alimony or a maintenance allowance, also provision alimentaire.^[7][6]
5. Done only to earn a living: littérature alimentaire, une besogne alimentaire.^[7][2][8]

Word family

• agroalimentaire

Related words

• aliment
• alimentation
• alimenter
• Latin alimentum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)