chimique

Forms

chimique (plural chimiques)^[1]

Etymology

The Trésor and Rey take it as borrowed from Medieval Latin chimicus (“concerning the art of transforming metals”), also spelled chemicus, recorded in the 12th–13th centuries, rather than a derivative of chimie.^[2][3] The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert, Bloch and Wartburg and Wiktionary derive it within French, from French chimie + -ique.^[4][5][6][1] That noun is from Medieval Latin chimia,^[6][1] itself taken from alchemia (“alchemy”);^[7] Bloch and Wartburg trace the word to a Greek term for the smelting of ore.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Bloch and Wartburg date the word to 1556;^[4][5][6] the Gros Larousse cites Pontus de Tyard in 1558.^[8] Ambroise Paré speaks of medicamens pyrotiques et chimiques, c'est à dire extraits par distillation de quinte-essence (“fiery and chemical medicines, that is, drawn out by distilling the quintessence”), where it means “obtained by the processes of chemistry”.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

Like chimiste, the adjective followed the history of the idea of chemistry: from the symbolic, hermetic operations of the 16th to the 18th centuries, through measurement, to the analysis of the constituents of matter.^[3] In the 16th and 17th centuries it was also a noun for a chemist, a use Littré calls obsolete, chimiste alone being current in his day.^[9][2]

From the 19th century it qualifies products made by chemical synthesis, as in allumettes chimiques, phosphorus matches lit by friction (1842), often shortened to chimiques.^[2][8] By the 1880s it was used, usually disparagingly, of colours that look artificial.^[2]

Timeline

• 1556 – First recorded date given by the Robert dictionaries and Bloch and Wartburg.^[4][5][6]
• 1558 – Pontus de Tyard uses it.^[8]
• 1579 – J. Liébaut publishes four books de la philosophie chimique.^[9]
• 1587 – Pontus de Tyard uses it as a noun in an unclear sense.^[2]
• Before 1590 – Ambroise Paré writes of medicamens chimiques.^[2][9]
• 1610 – The adverb chimiquement is first recorded.^[2][3]
• Before 1630 – Aubigné, in Les Tragiques, uses it as a noun meaning “chemist”.^[2]
• 1842 – Allumettes chimiques appears in Reybaud.^[2]
• 1887 – The Goncourts use it of colours in the sense “artificial”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to chemistry or to the substances it studies: une réaction chimique, une formule chimique.^[5][2]
2. Obtained by chemical processes, synthetic, as opposed to natural: les produits chimiques, les engrais chimiques.^[5][2]
3. Using toxic chemical products: armes chimiques, guerre chimique.^[5]
4. (informal, pejorative) Artificial, processed: un goût chimique.^[2][1]

Noun

1. (dated) A chemical match, short for allumette chimique.^[8]

Word family

• chimiquement

Related words

• chimie
• chimiste
• alchimie
• Medieval Latin chimicus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette