corporel

Forms

corporel (feminine corporelle, masculine plural corporels, feminine plural corporelles)^[1] Old French also corporal, the form of the first record in the sense “of the human body” (1174).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin corporālis (“having a body, relating to the body”), which had both of the French senses already in Latin.^[2][4][5] The Latin adjective is formed from corpus (“body”) (genitive corporis), the source of corps.^[6][7][3] The word is a learned borrowing, only historically attached to that noun.^[4]

Cognate with Old Occitan corporal, Spanish corporal and Italian corporale.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1160 in the Roman d'Eneas, meaning “having a body”.^[2][6] In 1174 Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Thomas Becket has corporal “belonging to the human body”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Both senses of the Latin word came into Old French within a few years: “having a body”, as opposed to spiritual, and “relating to the human body”.^[2][4] Old texts speak of corporal vie “bodily life” and of the corporel sustance that drink weakens.^[3] The adverb corporeilment is recorded about 1180, and later corporellement.^[4]

From the 15th century the word was also a legal term: biens corporels are material things that can be owned, as opposed to biens incorporels, rights in an estate.^[7] In modern use it mostly qualifies the body and its care or treatment, as in châtiment corporel and hygiène corporelle;^[8][7] psychology speaks of the schéma corporel, the picture a person has of their own body.^[8]

Learned doublets from Latin later joined it: corporéité (1482), from Medieval Latin, and corporalité (1495), from Christian Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – First record, in the Roman d'Eneas, meaning “having a body”.^[2]
• 1174 – Corporal “of the human body” in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[2]
• c. 1180 – The adverb corporeilment appears.^[4]
• 15th century – The legal sense (biens corporels) appears.^[7]
• 1482 – Corporéité is borrowed from Medieval Latin.^[4]
• 1495 – Corporalité is borrowed from Christian Latin.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (formal) Having a body, material, as opposed to spiritual: Les anges ne sont pas des êtres corporels.^[8][7][3]
2. Relating to the human body, bodily, physical: hygiène corporelle, châtiment corporel, expression corporelle, as in Il faut aussi penser aux besoins corporels des enfants.^[8][7]
3. (psychology) Schéma corporel: the mental picture a person has of their own body.^[8]
4. (law) Bien corporel: a material thing that can be owned.^[8][7]

Word family

• incorporel
• corporellement

Related words

• corps
• corporéité
• corporalité
• corporal
• Latin corporālis

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert