conformation

Forms

conformation f (plural conformations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin conformātiō (“shape, arrangement, adaptation”),^[2][3][4][5] from conformō (“to shape, fashion”).^[4][5][6] The TLFi calls the Latin noun classical, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert Late Latin.^[2][6][7] It belongs with conformer.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the surgeon Ambroise Paré, who wrote of the tongue being flexible “pour la conformation et articulation de la voix” (for the shaping and articulation of the voice); the TLFi and the DHLF date this to 1575, the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and the GLLF to 1560.^{[5][2][3][6][4]}

Semantic evolution

The word was at once specialised in science, for the arrangement of the parts of a living body or of an organ.^[3] In medicine vice de conformation names a congenital physical defect, and Littré also records maladie de conformation for a disease due to a faulty arrangement of the body's parts, and a surgical sense, the setting of broken or dislocated bones.^[2][5]

In chemistry it was taken up for the different shapes a molecule can take through free rotation about its single bonds, which gave the adjective conformationnel in 1964.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1560 – The date given by the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and the GLLF, in Paré.^[6][7][4]
• 1575 – Ambroise Paré's Œuvres, the TLFi's first record.^[2][3]
• 1964 – The derivative conformationnel appears in chemistry.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The natural arrangement of the parts of an organized body: la conformation d'un cheval.^[7][2][8]
2. Vice de conformation: a congenital physical defect.^[2][7]
3. The particular shape or arrangement of an organ.^[2][4]
4. (chemistry) Any of the shapes a molecule can take by rotation about its single bonds.^[2][3]

Related words

• conformer
• forme
• Latin conformātiō

References

1. ^ a b 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 g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)