esthétique

Forms

esthétique (plural esthétiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin aesthetica (“science of the beautiful”), a word of philosophical Latin coined by the German philosopher A. G. Baumgarten,^[2][3][4] who used it in the title of his Latin work on the subject (1750–1758);^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF date the coinage to 1735.^[5][6] Baumgarten formed it on Ancient Greek αἰσθητικός (aisthētikós, “able to perceive, perceptible”),^[2][1][7] from αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai, “to perceive, feel”).^[3][4][8] Littré explains that he named the science so because he saw the idea of beauty as a confused perception, a feeling.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as a noun in 1753, in Beausobre's Dissertations philosophiques, for the “science of the beautiful”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The word met much resistance in France as too theoretical and abstract, and was accepted only in the 19th century, about its middle according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[5][3] It names the science of beauty in nature and art, the subject of theories from Kant's Esthétique transcendantale to Hegel.^[3] The adjective is recorded from 1798 (Schwan's French–German dictionary) for what concerns the feeling for beauty.^[2][3] From 1811 it was also used for what belongs to art, as in Baudelaire's Curiosités esthétiques.^[3] From 1819 the noun also meant the body of rules by which beauty is judged.^[2]

Going back to the Greek sense, it was briefly used for a “science of sensations” (1803, aesthétique).^[3] From about 1890 the noun was extended to the perception of and search for beauty, and the adjective became a common equivalent of “beautiful, harmonious”;^[3] the noun then named beauty itself (1922) and a person's taste (about 1930).^[3] It was applied to the means of keeping or improving physical beauty (esthétique faciale, 1930) and to the design of manufactured goods (esthétique industrielle, 1951).^[3]

Timeline

• 1753 – First recorded as a noun, “science of the beautiful”, in Beausobre.^[2][6]
• 1798 – The adjective and the adverb esthétiquement appear in Schwan's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1811 – The adjective is used of what relates to art.^[3]
• 1819 – Maine de Biran uses the noun for the rules by which beauty is judged.^[2]
• 1868 – Flaubert uses the derivative esthéticien.^[3]
• 1881 – Esthète appears, probably from English aesthete.^[5]
• c. 1890 – The adjective comes to mean “beautiful, harmonious”.^[3]
• 1930 – Esthétique faciale is recorded.^[3]
• 1951 – Esthétique industrielle is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Aesthetics, the branch of philosophy that studies beauty in nature and art.^[9][10][11]
2. A particular conception of beauty, the principles underlying an art or a style: l'esthétique baroque.^[9][11]
3. Beauty, a harmonious appearance: l'esthétique d'un pont.^[10][11]
4. Esthétique industrielle: industrial design.^[11][3]

Adjective

1. Relating to the feeling for or perception of beauty: le sens esthétique.^[11][8][2]
2. Beautiful, harmonious, pleasing to look at.^[11][2]
3. Serving to keep or improve the beauty of the body: soins esthétiques, chirurgie esthétique “cosmetic surgery”.^[11]

Word family

• esthète
• esthéticien
• esthétiquement

Related words

• Ancient Greek αἰσθητικός (aisthētikós)

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 h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 273b
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)