groupe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡʁup/^[1]

Forms

groupe m (plural groupes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian gruppo (“knot; group of figures”) (also “groppo”),^[2][3][4][5] attested in Leonardo da Vinci for a group of figures in a work of art, whose first sense must have been “knot”, compare Old Occitan grop (“knot”).^[2][3][4] It comes, probably through Gothic, from Germanic “*kruppa” “rounded mass”, the source of croupe;^[2][3][4] Etymonline gives Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“round mass, lump”).^[6] The musical sense was borrowed again from Italian “gruppo” (see “gruppetto”).^[2]

English group (1690s), German Gruppe and Romanian grup come from French.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Roger de Piles, translating Du Fresnoy's De arte graphica (1668), uses it for several figures forming a whole in a painting or sculpture.^[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Molière (1669) and Félibien (1676) use it of sculpted groups.^[8] In 1726 it was a set of beings or things sharing characteristics used to classify them, whence the musical (1732) and later the biological senses (groupe sanguin, 1930).^[2][3][8] From 1755 it meant any set of persons or things together in one place, a group of columns (d'Aviler) or of islands (La Pérouse, 1797).^[2]

In 1790 Marat speaks of a groupe de conjurés, people linked by opinions or activity, and the word became central in sociology, politics (groupe parlementaire) and economics, where a groupe is a set of linked companies (1908).^[2][3][8] Hadamard (1898) used it in mathematics, for a notion explored by Galois.^[2][3] Grouper dates from 1680, groupement from 1801, and groupuscule from 1932–1936, spreading in 1968.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1668 – A group of figures, in Roger de Piles.^[7]
• 1680 – Grouper.^[3]
• 1690s – English group.^[6]
• 1726 – A class of things.^[2]
• 1755 – A set of persons or things together.^[2]
• 1790 – Groupe de conjurés in Marat.^[2]
• 1898 – A mathematical group, in Hadamard.^[2]
• 1908 – A group of companies.^[2]
• 1936 – Groupuscule.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group (of people or things): un groupe de touristes, par petits groupes.^[9][1]
2. A group with shared features or aims: groupe social, groupe parlementaire, groupe de pression.^[9][8]
3. A group of companies: un grand groupe industriel.^[2][3]
4. (art) A group of figures; a sculpted group.^[9][8]
5. (biology) Groupe sanguin: blood group.^[8][3]
6. (mathematics) A group: théorie des groupes.^[2][8]
7. Groupe électrogène: generator set.^[3]

Word family

• grouper
• groupement
• regrouper
• groupage
• groupuscule
• dégrouper
• sous-groupe

Related words

• croupe
• English group

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 k l m n o p q r 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 421a
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert