filtrer

Forms

filtrer^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French filtre + -er.^[2][1][3] The base noun is from Medieval Latin filtrum, a word of the alchemists recorded in 1235 and identical to the Medieval Latin word for “felt”, the source of feutre.^[2][4][3] The Grand Robert thinks the verb is probably older than its first record, since infiltrer is attested earlier, about 1370.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The surgeon Ambroise Paré lists vessels à filtrer “for filtering” among his apparatus: to pass a liquid through a filter.^[6][2] The TLFi dates the passage 1575, the GLLF and the Petit Robert about 1560.^[2][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use “to seep through a porous medium” is found before 1714.^[3] The TLFi's first record of it is in Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloïse (1761).^[2] In older physiology it was said of organs that separate a humour from the blood.^[6]

From the 19th century it was applied by analogy to light and sound: transitively, of what screens the light (Balzac, 1836), and intransitively, of light coming through (Lamartine, 1838).^[2][3] In the early 20th century the figurative sense “to screen, check, sort” appeared, used of people and of news, and intransitively “to leak out” in spite of obstacles.^[3][7][8]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – First record, in Ambroise Paré.^[7][3]
• Before 1714 – Intransitive use “to seep through”.^[3]
• 1761 – Rousseau uses it intransitively.^[2]
• 1836 – Balzac uses filtrer of light.^[2][3]
• 1838 – Lamartine uses it of light coming through.^[2]
• Early 20th century – The figurative sense “to screen, sort” appears.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To pass a liquid or gas through a filtre, to filter it: filtrer du café.^[8][9][10]
2. (transitive) To hold back something by means of a filter, such as impurities, or a noise in a signal.^[8]
3. (transitive) To let light or sound through only partly, to soften it.^[8][7]
4. (transitive, figurative) To screen, check or sort: le gardien filtre les visiteurs.^[8][10][7]
5. (intransitive) To flow or seep through a filter or a porous body: l'eau filtre à travers le sable.^[8][9]
6. (intransitive) Of light or sound, to pass through gaps or a partition.^[8][2]
7. (intransitive, figurative) Of news, to leak out in spite of obstacles.^[8][1]

Word family

• filtrat
• filtrant
• filtrable

Related words

• filtrage
• filtration
• filtre
• infiltrer
• feutre

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