anormal

Forms

anormal (feminine anormale, masculine plural anormaux, feminine plural anormales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin anormalis (“contrary to the rule”), a word of scholastic Latin recorded from the 12th century.^[2][3][4][5] The Medieval Latin word was formed on Latin norma (“carpenter's square, rule”) with the privative prefix a-,^[3][2] on the model of normālis,^[4][6] and probably took its sense from anomalus (“irregular”).^[2][3] The GLLF calls it an alteration of that Latin adjective.^[6] Littré thought it a hybrid of Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) and the Latin noun, or a confusion with anomal.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rey dates it to 1236, first applied to a conjugation,^[2] and Littré quotes Conjugacions anormales from the 13th-century Bataille des sept arts.^[7] Bloch and Wartburg date it to about 1220.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has meant “contrary to rules or customs” from the start.^[2][6] It was rare until the 19th century, when it was taken up again;^[2] felt to be a hybrid, it was only admitted by the Académie française in 1842,^[3][2] and Littré still noted that the Académie had not accepted it, although it was very common and clearly old.^[7]

In medicine it was applied from 1884 to a person who departs from the usual model, and in psychopathology to children, as enfant anormal (1922).^[2] In familiar speech it shares with fou and malade the exaggerated sense “shocking, strange”.^[2] Its derivatives anormalité (1845) and anormalement (1860, Baudelaire) are both 19th-century.^[2]

Timeline

• 1236 – Recorded of a conjugation.^[2][3]
• 13th century – Exceptions anormales in the Roman de la Rose.^[7]
• 1842 – Admitted by the Académie française.^[3][2]
• 1845 – First record of anormalité.^[2]
• 1860 – Baudelaire uses anormalement.^[2]
• 1884 – First used in medicine of a person.^[2]
• 1922 – Enfant anormal in psychopathology.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not in keeping with the general rules or recognised laws; irregular, abnormal: une chaleur anormale pour octobre.^[8][9]
2. That causes surprise or worry by being unexpected or inexplicable: un bruit anormal dans le moteur.^[8][9]
3. Exceptional in its intensity.^[8]
4. (dated) Of a person: affected by an anomaly in physical or mental development.^[8][2]

Noun

1. L'anormal: what is abnormal.^[8]
2. (dated) A person with such an anomaly.^[8]

Word family

• anormalement
• anormalité

Related words

• normal
• anomal
• norme
• Latin norma

References

1. ^ a b 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 191a
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)