cyclique

Forms

cyclique (plural cycliques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cyclicus (“of the epic cycle, periodic”),^[2][3][4] which is from Ancient Greek κυκλικός (kuklikós), from κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, cycle”).^[4][5] Wiktionary takes it through Middle French and notes that it can also be read as from French cycle + -ique.^[1] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert derive it from cycle.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 1583 in a translation of Horace's satires, where cyclique escrivain renders Horace's cyclicus scriptor, an epic poet who told the legends of the heroic age.^[2][3] The Grand Robert dates écrivain cyclique to 1578.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the Greek epic cycle the adjective was applied to poets and poems: Trévoux (1752) records poète cyclique for a writer of small pieces in verse and poème cyclique for a light piece, a vaudeville,^[2][4] and Littré gives poëtes cycliques both for the Greek poets of the fabulous ages and for writers of songs.^[5]

Following cycle, it passed into the learned vocabularies: astronomy in 1679, of what relates to an astronomical cycle,^[2][3] then the general sense of a phenomenon that recurs at regular intervals, as in crise cyclique.^[2][4] Chemistry took it up in 1918 for compounds whose molecule forms a closed chain.^[2][3] It produced the opposites acyclique (1933) and anticyclique (1958), and in the 20th century it gave the learned element cyclo- of chemical compounds.^[3] In music an œuvre cyclique is a work in which one theme returns in every movement.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1583 – Cyclique escrivain translates Horace's cyclicus scriptor.^[2][3]
• 1679 – The Journal des savants uses it of an astronomical cycle.^[2][4]
• 1752 – Trévoux records poète cyclique and poème cyclique for light verse.^[2]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the literary senses.^[4]
• 1918 – Série cyclique appears in chemistry.^[2]
• 1933 – The opposite acyclique is formed.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to an astronomical or chronological cycle.^[7][2]
2. Recurring at regular intervals or by the same process, periodic.^[7][8][9]
3. (literature) Belonging to a literary cycle, especially the Greek epic cycle: poèmes cycliques.^[7][5]
4. (music) Of a work in which one theme reappears in each movement.^[7][8]
5. (medicine) Of a disease that, untreated, passes through regular, predictable stages.^[8]
6. (chemistry) Of a molecule or compound that forms a closed chain.^[7][9]

Word family

• cycliquement
• acyclique
• anticyclique

Related words

• cycle
• Latin cyclicus

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)