automate

Forms

automate m (plural automates)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek αὐτόματος (autómatos, “self-moving”).^[2][3][4] The Greek word is formed from αὐτός (autós, “self”) and a second element from the root of μέμονα (mémona, “to be eager, intend”), which Rey and the Grand Robert relate to Latin meminī (“to remember”) and mēns (“mind”).^[4][5] Wiktionary gives the neuter αὐτόματον (autómaton) as the immediate source.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as an adjective in Rabelais's Gargantua: petitz engins automates, c'est à dire soy mouvans eulx mesmes “small automatic devices, that is, moving by themselves”.^[2][6] The TLFi dates it 1534, Bloch–Wartburg and Rey 1532.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was not used again in the 16th century; the word came back as a noun in Cotgrave (1611), for anything moved by an inner mechanism.^[4][2] In the 18th century, as noun and adjective, it narrowed to a machine imitating the movements of a living being, such as Vaucanson's flute player.^[4][6] Pascal used it figuratively in 1669 of human beings who act like machines, and it became common after Descartes.^[4][2] Its 18th-century vogue gave the derivatives automatique and automatisme.^[4][3]

In modern French it is used of old mechanical figures and, beside robot, of programmable machines; from 1968 it has meant a vending or ticket machine, rare in France but common in Switzerland, probably under the influence of German Automat.^[4]

Timeline

• 1532 or 1534 – Rabelais uses it as an adjective in Gargantua.^[3][2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it as a noun.^[2][4]
• 1669 – Pascal applies it to human beings.^[2][4]
• 1751 – D'Alembert's flûteur automate in the Encyclopédie.^[2]
• 1968 – First recorded for a vending machine.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) Any machine moved by an inner mechanism.^[7]
2. A mechanical figure that imitates the movements of a living being, an automaton: les automates de Vaucanson.^[7][6]
3. (figurative) A person who acts mechanically, without will of their own: marcher comme un automate.^[7][2]
4. A programmable control device, a machine performing a sequence of operations automatically, or a vending machine.^[7][4]
5. (computing) A mathematical automaton defined by states and transitions.^[7]

Adjective

1. (rare) Behaving like an automaton.^[2][8]

Word family

• automatique
• automatisme
• automatiser

Related words

• robot
• Ancient Greek αὐτόματος (autómatos)

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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse