conscience
Pronunciation
- IPA: /kɔ̃.sjɑ̃s/[1]
Forms
conscience f (plural consciences)[1] Old French cunscience, concience, coscience, consienche.[2][3]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Latin cōnscientia (“shared knowledge; inner knowledge, consciousness; moral sense”),[3][4][5][6][7] from cōnsciō (“to know together; to be conscious of”), from com- (“with”) and sciō (“to know”) (see science).[4][8][1] The Latin word, matching Ancient Greek συνείδησις (suneídēsis), first meant knowledge shared with someone, wavering between “confidence” and “connivance”; applied to knowledge of oneself, it took a moral sense.[4]
Compare Old Occitan conciencia, Spanish conciencia and Italian coscienza.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Livre des Rois (about 1165) uses it for the inner sense that judges right and wrong: Sa cunscience le remorst “his conscience pricked him”.[3][2]
Semantic evolution
Until the 17th century the word had only this moral value, seen in bone conscience (1230), en conscience (1306), cas de conscience (1609) and liberté de conscience (before 1569, Louis de Condé); conscience publique (Montesquieu, 1721) is the moral opinion of a society.[3][4] Some classical phrases keep the old idea that the conscience lay in the chest or stomach: Molière's mettre la main à la conscience (1673) “to examine oneself honestly”, and se mettre un verre de vin sur la conscience (1690).[3][4] Applied to work, it gave conscience professionnelle and, among printers, work paid by time, en conscience (1723).[4][3]
The psychological sense, the faculty of knowing one's own reality, came from the classical philosophers (Malebranche, 1676) and was generalized by Rousseau (1762).[3][4] Derivatives include consciencieux (1500), inconscience (1838) and subconscience (1907).[5]
Timeline
- c. 1165 – Moral conscience, Livre des Rois.[3]
- 1230 – Bone conscience.[3]
- Before 1569 – Liberté de conscience.[3]
- 1500 – consciencieux.[5]
- 1609 – Cas de conscience.[3]
- 1673 – Mettre la main à la conscience, Molière.[3]
- 1676 – Psychological sense, Malebranche.[3]
- 1721 – Conscience publique, Montesquieu.[3]
- 1762 – Awareness of one's states and acts, Rousseau.[3]
Meanings
Noun
- consciousness, the immediate knowledge one has of one's own mental activity: la conscience de soi, perdre conscience, to faint.[9][1]
- Awareness: avoir conscience de, prendre conscience de, prise de conscience.[9][1]
- conscience, the moral sense of right and wrong: avoir la conscience tranquille, en son âme et conscience, cas de conscience.[9][1]
- Liberté de conscience: freedom of thought and belief, objecteur de conscience, conscientious objector.[4][1]
- Conscientiousness: conscience professionnelle.[4]
Word family
- consciencieux
- inconscience
- subconscience
Related words
- conscient
- science
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1059a
- ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert