essentiel

Forms

essentiel (feminine essentielle, masculine plural essentiels, feminine plural essentielles)^[1] Old French essencial, plural essenciaus (late 13th century);^[2][3] the Petit Robert notes that this form essential was displaced in the 16th century by essentiel, remade on essence.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin essentiālis (“relating to essence”).^[2][3][1][5] The Latin adjective is derived from essentia (“nature of a thing”), a term of philosophy formed on esse (“to be”).^[3][5] The adverb essentiellement is recorded earlier, about 1200.^[3][2]

Cognate with Old Occitan essencial, Spanish esencial and Italian essenziale.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 13th century in Raymond Lull's Evast et Blaquerne, in proprietez essenciaus, “essential properties”: those that belong to the essence of a thing, as opposed to its accidents.^[2][3] The adverb essentïalment is found about 1200.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first kept the philosophical sense of its Latin source.^[3] Calvin (1541) speaks of the Son as the Parole essentiele et eternelle du Pere, “the essential and eternal Word of the Father”.^[6][7] By extension it came to mean “characteristic, constitutive” (1541), then, in Montaigne (1580), “absolutely necessary” and “most important”.^[3][7] In this last sense it was used as a noun by Pascal (1669), l'essentiel, which later became the everyday “the main thing”.^[3][2] In 1701 it was also said of a person one can rely on.^[3][7]

Chemistry gave sel essentiel (1698, Lémery) and huile essentielle “plant essence” (1864), still in common use.^[2][3] In medicine, as in hypertension essentielle, it describes a disease with no known cause.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – The adverb essentïalment.^[3]
• Late 13th century – Proprietez essenciaus, in Raymond Lull.^[2]
• 1541 – Calvin; the sense “characteristic, constitutive”.^[7][3]
• 1580 – “Necessary, most important”, in Montaigne.^[7][3]
• 1669 – Pascal uses l'essentiel as a noun.^[2]
• 1698 – Sel essentiel, in Lémery.^[2]
• 1701 – Said of a reliable person, in Massillon.^[7]
• 1864 – Huile essentielle.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (philosophy) Belonging to the essence or very nature of a thing, as opposed to accidentel: un caractère essentiel.^[4][6]
2. Absolutely necessary, indispensable: l'eau est essentielle à toute vie.^[4][8]
3. Most important, fundamental: le point essentiel du débat.^[7][8]
4. (medicine) Of a disease, having no known cause, idiopathic.^[4]
5. (chemistry) Huile essentielle: an essential oil, a plant essence.^[2][3]

Noun

1. L'essentiel: the main or most important thing: c'est l'essentiel; the greater part: l'essentiel de son temps.^[4][1]

Word family

• essentiellement

Related words

• essence
• Latin essentia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)