conviction

Forms

conviction f (plural convictions)^[1] Anglo-Norman had convinction from 1407.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin convictiō (“convincing proof, the state of being convinced”), a word of Christian Latin.^[3][4][5] The Latin noun is formed on convictum, the supine of convincō (“to prove guilty, convince”),^[4][6][7] and so belongs with convaincre.^[8][9] Bloch and Wartburg call the Latin word Late Latin.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Bodin's Démonomanie (1579) has it in law, for the act of proving someone guilty.^[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Linked with the old legal sense of convaincre, it meant a proof of guilt by 1623 (Richelieu).^[3][4] La Bruyère (1688) used it for a firm certainty, the sense that passed into general use; in the plural, about 1860, it came to mean a person's political or religious beliefs.^[3][4][10] Of the legal sense only pièce à conviction “exhibit, piece of evidence” remains (1825), which replaced pièce de conviction (1790).^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1579 – Bodin uses it for proving someone's guilt.^[3]
• 1623 – Richelieu uses it for a proof of guilt.^[3][4]
• 1688 – La Bruyère uses it for certainty.^[3][10]
• 1790 – Pièce de conviction appears in Le Moniteur.^[3]
• 1825 – Dumas writes pièce à conviction.^[3]
• c. 1860 – The plural is used for political or religious beliefs.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, law) Proof establishing someone's guilt; now only in pièce à conviction, an object kept as evidence in a criminal trial.^[10][3]
2. A firm belief founded on evidence, certainty: l'intime conviction.^[10][1]
3. Earnestness, persuasive feeling: Elle a défendu son projet avec conviction.^[10]
4. (chiefly plural) A person's political, moral or religious opinions.^[4][10]

Word family

• convictionnel

Related words

• convaincre
• Latin convictiō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1136a
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert