coïncidence

Forms

coïncidence f (plural coïncidences)^[1] First recorded as coincidance and coïcidance in 1464.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin coincidentia,^[2][1][3] a neuter plural of the present participle of coincidō taken as a noun and then treated as a feminine singular.^[2][3] The Medieval Latin word is recorded from the 13th century.^[2] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert instead derive it from coïncider, and the Académie allows both views.^[4][5][6] The scholastic Latin verb means literally “to fall together”, from incidō (“to fall upon”),^[7] itself from cadō (“to fall”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Lagadeuc's Catholicon of 1464, as coincidance glossing Latin coincidentia;^[2] the sense was “likeness, similarity”.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Like the verb coïncider, the word moved from the learned sense of an intellectual likeness to a spatial sense in geometry, the exact fit of two figures laid on one another (1753, in the Encyclopédie), and then to the everyday sense in time.^[3][2] Volney used it in 1791 of a chance meeting of events,^[2] while the GLLF dates the sense of things existing at the same time to the Académie dictionary of 1835.^[9]

The English word coincidence was taken from French about 1600.^[8]

Timeline

• 1464 – Coincidance appears in Lagadeuc's Catholicon.^[2]
• c. 1600 – English coincidence is borrowed from French.^[8]
• 1753 – The Encyclopédie defines its geometrical sense.^[2][9]
• 1791 – Volney uses it for a chance meeting of events.^[2][3]
• 1835 – The Académie records the sense “things happening at the same time”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geometry) The state of two figures that can be laid on one another so that they match point for point.^[5][2][10]
2. The fact of things happening at the same time or matching, simultaneity.^[5][6]
3. A chance concurrence of events^[5][10]
4. (electronics) A circuit that checks that pulses from several detectors belong to one physical event.^[10]

Related words

• coïncider
• coïncident
• incident
• Medieval Latin coincidentia
• English coincidence

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)