cellulaire

Forms

cellulaire (plural cellulaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French cellule + -aire.^[2][1][3] The base noun, dated 1429, comes from Latin cellula, a diminutive of cella (“room”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in anatomy in 1740, in P. Demours's French version of the Edinburgh Essais et observations de médecine, quoted by the Dictionnaire de Trévoux of 1752, for living tissues having small cavities.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective stayed in scientific use, in substance cellulaire (1776) and membrane cellulaire (1780).^[4] In the 19th century it followed the meaning of cellule, first in botany as “relating to the cell” (1835), then “made up of cells” in the modern biological sense.^[4] Littré still describes the anatomist's tissu cellulaire as the tissue that fills the spaces between organs.^[5]

In the 1840s the word passed into everyday use for the prison cell: Rey dates this to 1842, the TLFi quotes Nerval's supplice cellulaire (1844), and voiture cellulaire, a van with separate compartments for prisoners, appears in Bescherelle in 1845.^[4][2][6] It was also used of a monk's cell and, by likeness, of a cramped room or a secluded life.^[2] With the cellular radio network, téléphone cellulaire named the mobile phone,^[7][8] and in Canadian French the adjective alone is used as a noun for it.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 1740 – First record, in anatomy (Demours).^[2][9]
• 1776 – Substance cellulaire in the supplement to the Encyclopédie.^[4]
• 1835 – “Relating to the cell”, in botany.^[4]
• 1838 – The compound unicellulaire appears in botany.^[4]
• 1844 – Nerval writes of a supplice cellulaire.^[2][6]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records voiture cellulaire.^[2][10]
• 1862 – The Goncourts use the adverb cellulairement.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (biology) Relating to the cell of living organisms: la biologie cellulaire, la division cellulaire.^[7][8][10]
2. Made up of cells: tissu cellulaire.^[7][10]
3. Having small cells, alveoli or pores: le béton cellulaire.^[7][8]
4. (telecommunications) Téléphone cellulaire: a mobile telephone working through zones each served by its own antenna.^[7][8]
5. Relating to prison cells: le régime cellulaire, in which prisoners are kept apart, fourgon cellulaire, a prison van divided into compartments.^[7][8][10]
6. (dated) Relating to a monk's cell, or recluse like life in one.^[2]

Noun

1. (Canada) A mobile phone.^[8][1]

Word family

• cellulairement
• unicellulaire

Related words

• cellule
• cellulose
• Latin cellula

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse