création

Forms

création f (plural créations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin creātiō (“creation, appointment”), a learned borrowing of the early 13th century.^[2][3][1] The Latin noun is formed on creātum, the supine of creō (“to create”); in Late Latin it meant “begetting”, and in Christian Latin “the creation of the world” and “a created thing, creature”.^[2][4][3] Old French also had the more popular form creoison, made like oroison, which the learned form replaced.^[5]

Cognate with Old Occitan creatio, Spanish creación and Italian creazione.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is creation del munde “the creation of the world” in the Sermon Sapientia at the beginning of the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was first used of God's creation and became secular in the 14th century, meaning the first establishing of something: Bersuire's premiere creation des tribuns and the creation of aldermen in 1364.^[2][3][5] Around 1790 it came to mean all created beings and things, and then a single created thing.^[2][3]

After créateur, it entered the arts: of the imagination in 1801, of poetry in 1810, and of the first performance of a stage role in 1843 (Balzac).^[2][3] It gave the terms créationniste (1869) and créationnisme (before 1890) for the doctrine of creation by God out of nothing.^[3]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Creation del munde in the Sermon Sapientia.^[2]
• 14th century – Bersuire uses it of the first appointment of the tribunes.^[2][5]
• 1364 – Creation d'escevins, the appointment of aldermen.^[2]
• 1688 – Malebranche's création continuée.^[2]
• 1790 – It means the whole of created beings and things.^[2][3]
• 1801 – It is used of the work of the imagination.^[2][3]
• 1843 – Balzac uses it of the first performance of a stage role.^[2][3]
• 1869 – The derivative créationniste appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (religion) The act by which God gives existence to the world out of nothing, and la Création, the creation of the world.^[6][5]
2. The whole of created things, the universe.^[6][5]
3. The act of making something that did not exist before, of founding or establishing it: la création d'une entreprise.^[7][5]
4. A thing created, a work of the mind or of art, a new product or model.^[2][7]
5. (theatre) The first performance of a role or a play.^[2][3]

Word family

• créationnisme
• créationniste

Related words

• créer
• créateur
• créature
• Latin creātiō
• English creation

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse