exposant

Forms

exposant m (plural exposants)^[1] Used of a person it has the feminine exposante.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is the present participle, used as a noun, from French exposer.^[2][3][5][6] The verb was borrowed from Latin expōnō (“to set out, to explain”) and remodelled after poser; the inherited Old French form espondre gave way to it.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1389 as a legal term, for a person who sets out a claim in a petition.^[7][8][2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, still given by Littré for the person who sets out his claims in a petition, is now obsolete.^[8][4][3]

The word was formed anew in mathematics for the number showing the power to which a quantity is raised: the TLFi and the DHLF date this to 1620, in Jacques Peletier's Algèbre, while Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF give 1658, Pascal.^[7][8][6][3] The sense of a person who shows goods appears in 1688,^[7][8] and in the 19th century, with the new sense of exposition, it came to mean especially an artist whose works are shown.^[8][6]

Timeline

• 1389 – First record, in the legal sense “petitioner”.^[7][2]
• 1620 – Peletier's Algèbre uses it for a mathematical exponent.^[7][8]
• 1658 – Pascal uses the mathematical sense.^[6][3]
• 1680 – A dictionary records the mathematical sense.^[9]
• 1688 – First record for a person who shows goods.^[7][8]
• 1820 – The Petit Robert dates the sense “exhibitor” from this year.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An exhibitor, a person whose works or products are shown at an exposition or a trade fair.^[7][5][1]
2. (mathematics, masculine) An exponent, the number written to the right of and above a quantity to show the power to which it is raised.^[7][5][10]
3. En exposant: as a superscript.^[7][1]
4. (law, obsolete) A person who sets out his claims in a petition.^[3][4]

Related words

• exposer
• exposition
• exposé
• exponentiel
• Latin expōnō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)