coopératif

Forms

coopératif (feminine coopérative, masculine plural coopératifs, feminine plural coopératives)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin cooperātīvus, from cooperor (“to work together”), first used in 1550 of a secondary cause of an illness.^[2][3][4][1] The modern economic sense is borrowed from English cooperative, the word of Robert Owen's followers (Cooperative and Economical Society, 1821).^[2][3][4][5] The sense “ready to help” is also an anglicism.^[3][5] The GLLF and Littré treat it as formed on coopérer.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The 1550 cause cooperative of Fierabras's Méthode chirurgicale, a secondary cause of a disease without which it does not break out, is an isolated record.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word came back in political economy when Owen's ideas spread in France: Rey dates this to 1829,^[3] the TLFi to 1838–39, when the Académie's supplement mentions a société coopérative founded by Rapp in Indiana and Martineau's tales speak of méthodes cooperatives.^[2] The feminine became the noun coopérative (1901), short for société coopérative.^[3] The sense “willing to cooperate”, said of a person, dates from about 1964 according to Rey, from before 1946 according to the Petit Robert.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1550 – Cause cooperative in medicine, an isolated record.^[2][3]
• 1829 – Taken up in political economy, after English cooperative.^[3]
• 1838 – The Académie's supplement mentions a société coopérative.^[2][8]
• 1901 – The noun coopérative is recorded.^[3]
• c. 1964 – Used of a person ready to help.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (economics) Based on coopération and solidarity: société coopérative, système coopératif.^[5][9][2]
2. (anglicism) Of a person, cooperative, willing to help: Le suspect s'est montré peu coopératif.^[5][9][2]

Word family

• coopérativement

Related words

• coopérer
• coopération
• coopérateur
• coopérative
• English cooperative

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)