crucial

Forms

crucial (feminine cruciale, masculine plural cruciaux, feminine plural cruciales)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin crux (“cross”), a learned formation on the stem ⟨cruc-⟩ with the suffix -al.^[2][3][4] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date it 1560.^[5][6]

The modern sense “decisive”, taken over in 1911, is borrowed from English crucial.^[2][3][4] The English adjective had been borrowed from the French one (1706, “cross-shaped”) and in 1830 gained the sense “decisive, settling between two hypotheses” in the phrase “crucial instance”.^[2][7] That phrase renders New Latin instantia crucis (“instance of the cross”), coined by Francis Bacon in 1620 for an experiment that rules out one of two equally plausible explanations, after the crosses set up at forks in roads to show the ways.^[2][3][4] Newton used experimentum crucis in 1672 in the same sense.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ambroise Paré used it in surgery in 1561, of a cut in the shape of a cross: Faut faire la section triangulaire ou cruciale (“the cut must be made triangular or cross-shaped”).^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The medical sense, at first used of a cross-shaped muscle, gave way to cruciforme, and crucial “in the form of a cross” is now rare outside the phrase incision cruciale.^[3][2][6]

The abstract sense came back from English in 1911, first in philosophy, of an experiment that confirms or rejects a hypothesis (expérience cruciale), and then in general use for anything fundamental or decisive.^[2][3][6][9]

Timeline

• 1561 – Ambroise Paré uses it of a cross-shaped cut.^[2][3]
• 1620 – Francis Bacon coins the Latin phrase instantia crucis.^[2][3]
• 1672 – Newton writes experimentum crucis.^[2][4]
• 1706 – English crucial is borrowed from French, meaning “cross-shaped”.^[2][7]
• 1830 – English crucial instance takes the sense “decisive”.^[2][7]
• 1911 – French takes over the sense “decisive” from English.^[2][3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (technical) Made in the shape of a cross, cruciform: incision cruciale.^[6][2]
2. (philosophy) Expérience cruciale: an experiment that confirms or rules out a hypothesis.^[6][9]
3. Crucial, decisive, of the utmost importance: un moment crucial, le point crucial.^[6][2]

Related words

• croix
• cruciforme
• Latin crux
• English crucial

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse