confidentiel

Forms

confidentiel (feminine confidentielle, masculine plural confidentiels, feminine plural confidentielles)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French confidence + -iel.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary instead derives it from confident with the same suffix.^[1] The base noun is from Latin cōnfīdentia.^[5]

In form it recalls Medieval Latin confidentialis (“bold, self-assured”), recorded about 1318, but the French word was made on the French noun.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1775, in a letter of the minister Vergennes to Ossun, of something told in confidence.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Unlike confidence and confident, which stayed literary words about private feelings, confidentiel became an administrative term, a milder equivalent of secret.^[4] An official note marked confidentiel is one passed only to certain officials.^[6]

From the sense “kept to a few people” it came to describe whatever reaches only a small circle, such as a review or a work with few readers.^[2][7] The adverb confidentiellement is as old as the adjective (1775), and the noun confidentialité (1970) is a calque of English confidentiality.^[4]

Timeline

• 1775 – Vergennes uses confidentiel in a letter to Ossun.^[2][6]
• 1775 – The adverb confidentiellement appears.^[4]
• 1970 – Confidentialité is formed after English confidentiality.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Confidential, said or done in secret: un rapport confidentiel, à titre confidentiel.^[7][2]
2. Reaching or meant for only a small circle of people: un tirage confidentiel.^[7][2]
3. Having the character of a confidence, revealing one's private self.^[6]

Word family

• confidentiellement
• confidentialité

Related words

• confidence
• confident
• confier

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert