capacité

Forms

capacité f (plural capacités)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin capācitās (“capacity to hold, aptitude”), from capāx (“able to hold, fit for”), from capiō (“to take, receive”).^[2][3][4][5] The adjective was replaced in Late Latin by capābilis, the source of capable.^[3] Bloch and Wartburg date the word to 1372, the TLFi and the Robert to 1314.^[4][2][5]

Cognate with Old Occitan capacitat, Spanish capacidad and Italian capacità.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie (1314), meaning the property of holding a certain quantity of something.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense survived, whereas it was lost in capable, and was strengthened by technical uses in electricity (1890), physiology and botany (1928).^[3][2] Already in the 14th century the word was used figuratively for the ability to understand or do something (about 1350 in Rey, 1371–75 in Raoul de Presles in the TLFi) and for talent.^[3][2] In law it has meant “legal capacity” since 1690.^[2][3] By metonymy it named a diploma awarded after two years of study, capacité en droit (1867).^[3] Montaigne used it for a large enclosed space, the Circus, in the 16th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville uses it for the capacity to hold.^[2][5]
• 1371–1375 – Raoul de Presles uses it for the ability to understand or do something.^[2]
• 1372 – Jean Corbichon uses it.^[4][7]
• 1425 – Recorded in Anglo-Norman, of legal qualification.^[8]
• c. 1525 – Incapacité is recorded.^[4]
• 1690 – Furetière records the legal sense.^[2][7]
• 1867 – Capacité en droit names a law diploma.^[3]
• 1890 – It is used in electricity.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. capacity, the property of holding a certain quantity, a volume: la capacité d'une citerne.^[9][1]
2. The number of people a place or vehicle can hold.^[9]
3. (electricity) The charge a battery can give back, or the capacitance of a capacitor.^[7]
4. (computing) Capacité de mémoire: the storage space of a memory.^[9]
5. Ability, skill, the capacity to understand or do something.^[1][2]
6. (law) Legal capacity, the aptitude to hold or exercise a right.^[2][3]
7. Capacité en droit: a diploma awarded after two years of law studies.^[3]

Word family

• incapacité
• capacitaire

Related words

• capable
• Latin capācitās

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 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 k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert