flatulent

Forms

flatulent (feminine flatulente, masculine plural flatulents, feminine plural flatulentes)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin flātus (“breath, wind, gas in the bowels”), a learned formation, perhaps on the model of féculent.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary analyses it as the Latin noun with the suffix -ulentus.^[1] The Latin noun comes from flō (“to blow”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Paré (1575), describing a tumour or swelling full of wind.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It has remained a medical term for what is caused by intestinal gas or is prone to it; the GLLF dates these senses to the Larousse of 1872.^[3][5] The noun flatulence followed in 1747, while the older flatueux (1538) and flatuosité (1552), from other suffixes, are rarer.^[3] By analogy it was used of what is abnormally swollen, and in literary use, figuratively, of what is empty and full of wind.^[2]

Timeline

• 1575 – Paré uses flatulent.^[2][3]
• 1747 – The noun flatulence appears.^[3]
• 1872 – The Larousse records the senses “caused by flatulence” and “prone to flatulence”.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (medicine) Caused by or accompanied by flatulence: des douleurs flatulentes.^[2][7][5]
2. (medicine) Prone to wind, flatulent.^[2][5]
3. Abnormally swollen, bloated.^[2]
4. (figurative, literary) Puffed up, empty, vain.^[2]

Word family

• flatulence

Related words

• flatueux
• flatuosité
• enfler

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert