cosmique

Forms

cosmique (plural cosmiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cosmicus (“of the cosmos, of the world”), which is from Ancient Greek κοσμικός (kosmikós, “concerning the universe”).^[2][3][4] The Greek adjective is formed on κόσμος (kósmos, “world”);^[5][3] Littré notes that the noun first meant “order, arrangement” and “ornament”.^[6] The Grand Robert and Rey derive the French word straight from the Greek.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1380, in a manuscript of the 15th century, as an astronomical term in Evrart de Conty's French version of the Problems ascribed to Aristotle.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the adjective remained a learned word of astronomy and natural philosophy, describing what belongs to the universe as a whole;^[7][6] Littré records matière cosmique and the astronomer's lever cosmique, the rising of a star together with the Sun.^[6] In 1862 Victor Hugo's amour cosmique in Les Misérables gave it a figurative, hyperbolic sense, “on the scale of the universe”.^[2][7]

From 1863 it was also used of what lies beyond the Earth, in the spaces between the stars,^[8][3] the sense of rayons cosmiques “cosmic rays” and vaisseau cosmique “spacecraft”.^[8][9] Late in the 19th century it took the literary sense “vast, boundless”.^[3][10]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – First recorded as an astronomical term in Evrart de Conty.^[2][7]
• c. 1380 – The adverb cosmiquement is recorded in the same text.^[2][7]
• 1862 – Victor Hugo writes amour cosmique in Les Misérables.^[2][7]
• 1863 – Used of the spaces beyond the Earth.^[8][3]
• c. 1900 – Cosmicien is used of physicists who studied cosmic rays.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to the cosmos, the universe taken as an ordered whole: les espaces cosmiques.^[8][10][9]
2. Relating to outer space, beyond the Earth's atmosphere: rayons cosmiques “cosmic rays”.^[8][3][9]
3. (literary) Boundless, immense, on the scale of the universe: un amour cosmique.^[2][10]

Word family

• cosmiquement
• cosmicien

Related words

• cosmos
• microcosme
• macrocosme
• Latin cosmicus
• Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos)

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 f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1243b
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)