anomalie

Forms

anomalie f (plural anomalies)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin anomalia (“irregularity”), used by Varro for irregularity in language, the unsystematic, in contrast to analogia.^[2][3][4] The Latin word is taken from Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία (anōmalía, “unevenness, irregularity”),^[2][3][1] from ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “uneven”), formed from the privative ἀν- (an-) and ὁμαλός (homalós, “even, level”).^[2][3][4] The latter is derived, like ὅμοιος (hómoios, “like, equal”), from ὁμός (homós, “same”), of Indo-European origin;^[2] Picoche puts it in the family of the root Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”).^[5]

The word was later wrongly analysed as the privative prefix and νόμος (nómos, “law”), and linked with the idea of the abnormal.^[3][2] The adjective anomal came earlier, in 1174.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is recorded in 1570, first as a term of grammar, for an irregular form or construction.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The original idea of unevenness or irregularity survives in astronomy, where the sense comes in the 17th century from Kepler's Latin anomalia, the irregularity of the planets' motion;^[2][6] in grammar, of conjugations from 1690;^[2] in biology, where it names a deviation from the normal type (1808);^[2][6] and in chemistry (1811).^[2]

Since the language had no noun for normal and anormal (normalité and anormalité were formed only in the mid-19th century), anomalie came to mean a departure from the norm.^[2] The everyday use of une anomalie or des anomalies for something abnormal dates from the early 20th century.^[2] Picoche notes that the word was rare before the 19th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 1570 – First recorded, as a grammatical term.^[2][3]
• 17th century – It enters astronomy from Kepler's Latin.^[2][6]
• 1690 – Used of irregular conjugations.^[2]
• 1808 – First used in biology for a deviation from the normal type.^[2][6]
• 1811 – First used in chemistry.^[2]
• Early 20th century – Une anomalie becomes common for “something abnormal”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An anomaly, irregularity: something that departs from the rule or the usual: Le technicien a relevé une anomalie dans le moteur.^[6][7][8]
2. (biology) A deviation from the normal type, a malformation.^[6][7]
3. (grammar) An irregular form or construction.^[6][4]
4. (astronomy) The angle measuring a planet's position in its orbit from the perihelion.^[6][9][8]
5. (physics) The difference between an observed quantity and the value a theory gives.^[8]

Related words

• anomal
• anormal
• anomalistique
• Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία (anōmalía)

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 m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette