capteur

Forms

capteur m (plural capteurs)^[1]

Etymology

The TLFi and the DHLF take it as borrowed from Late Latin captor (“one who takes”), a word used by Saint Augustine;^[2][3][4] Littré too gives the Latin noun, from capiō (“to take”).^[5] The Grand Robert, the GLLF, the Petit Robert and Wiktionary instead derive it from French capter with the agent suffix -eur.^[6][7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found between 1777 and 1783 in Linguet's Annales politiques, civiles et littéraires, meaning a person who seizes something or someone.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “one who seizes” survived mainly in two special uses:^[3] in naval language, a ship that has captured another (noun 1783, adjective 1795),^[2][3][5] and in law, for one who gets hold of an inheritance by trickery, recorded only in Balzac (1842).^[2][3] Maupassant used it figuratively in 1889 of charming people who win others over.^[2][7]

In the 20th century, about 1960, the word was taken up again for a device that detects a physical phenomenon and turns it into a signal, and for one that collects solar energy (capteur solaire).^[3][8] This technical sense seems to have pushed out the others.^[3]

Timeline

• 1777–1783 – Linguet uses capteur of one who seizes.^[2][3]
• 1783 – Émérigon uses it as a naval noun for a capturing ship.^[2]
• 1795 – A decree on prizes uses it as an adjective.^[2]
• 1842 – Balzac writes of les capteurs de la succession.^[2][3]
• 1889 – Maupassant uses it figuratively of winning children.^[2]
• c. 1960 – It names a device that detects a physical quantity.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sensor: a device that converts one physical quantity into another, usually an electrical signal: un capteur d'humidité.^[8][2][1]
2. Capteur solaire: a solar collector, turning the sun's energy into heat or electricity.^[8][3]
3. (nautical, dated) A ship that has captured another; also as an adjective, un navire capteur.^[2][5]
4. (rare) One who seizes a person or a thing; in law, one who gains an inheritance by trickery.^[2][4]

Related words

• capter
• captation
• captateur
• Latin captor

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 m 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 Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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 d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert