clinique

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kli.nik/^[1]

Forms

clinique (plural cliniques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin clīnicus (“bedridden; physician who visits the sick”) and its noun “clinice” “medicine practised at the bedside”,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek κλινικός (klinikós, “of the bed”), “klinikê (tekhnê)” “bedside medicine”, from κλίνη (klínē, “bed”), from κλίνω (klínō, “to lean, incline”) (see climat, incliner).^[2][3][6] Bloch and Wartburg note that it was opposed to “empirique”, then a pejorative word.^[4]

English clinic (1620s) is from French; its sense “private hospital” (1884) comes through German “Klinik”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gabriel Chappuys's translation of Garzoni (1586) lists la Clinique among branches of medicine;^[8][3] in 1626 Olivier du Mesnil uses the noun for the method of examining the patient in bed.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cotgrave (1611) has clinique for a bedridden patient, and in Church history a clinique was one baptised on his sickbed (before 1704).^[2][9] The adjective médecine clinique dates from 1696 (Daniel Le Clerc), with signes cliniques, examen clinique, based on direct observation rather than theory.^[2][3]

In the 19th century the noun named bedside teaching (1808), then the establishment where it is given (1814, chef de clinique, 1829) and, from the patient's side, a private establishment where the sick receive care (Goncourt, 1890), now the usual sense in France, opposed to the public hôpital.^[2][3] Clinicien dates from 1838.^[3]

Timeline

• 1586 – La Clinique in Chappuys.^[8]
• 1611 – A bedridden patient, in Cotgrave.^[2]
• 1620s – English clinic.^[7]
• 1626 – Bedside medicine.^[2]
• 1696 – Médecine clinique.^[2]
• 1808 – Bedside teaching.^[2]
• 1829 – Chef de clinique.^[3]
• 1838 – Clinicien.^[3]
• 1890 – A private hospital, in the Goncourts.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminine) A private hospital, clinic: accoucher dans une clinique.^[10][1]
2. (feminine) Clinical teaching; a teaching hospital department: chef de clinique.^[10][2]
3. (feminine) Clinical method, diagnosis by direct observation.^[11][2]

Adjective

1. Clinical: examen clinique, signes cliniques, essai clinique.^[11][1]

Word family

• clinicien
• cliniquement
• polyclinique

Related words

• climat
• incliner
• Ancient Greek κλίνη (klínē)
• English clinic

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 784b
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert