habituel

Forms

habituel (feminine habituelle, masculine plural habituels, feminine plural habituelles)^[1] Cotgrave records the form habitual in 1611.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin habituālis, a word of the same sense recorded before 1250, derived from the stem of habituō (“to bring into a condition, accustom”), the source of habituer.^[2][4][1] That verb comes from Latin habitus (“condition, state, manner of being”), the source of habit.^[4][3] The adverb habituellement is recorded as early as about 1389, so the adjective itself is surely older than its first record.^[2][4] The Robert dates it to the 14th century.^[5][6]

Cognate with Occitan habitual, Spanish habitual and Italian abituale.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in 1617 in Crespin's Thresor des trois langues, has the sense “that has become a habit”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “constant, very frequent” is recorded in 1671, in Pomey's dictionary.^[2][4] In the 19th century Littré gives it as a term of theology, grâce habituelle, the grace that dwells permanently in the soul, and as a term of rhetoric for the qualities a style must always have, as against occasional ones.^[3] In modern French it is the ordinary word for what is usual or customary, for a person as for a group.^[6][2]

Timeline

• c. 1389 – The adverb habituelement appears in Philippe de Mézières's Songe du vieil pèlerin.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records habitual.^[2][3]
• 1617 – Habituel “become a habit” is recorded by Crespin.^[2][4]
• 1671 – Pomey records the sense “constant, very frequent”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That has become a habit, for a person or a group: usual, customary: il a pris son café habituel.^[6][2][1]
2. Constant or very frequent: ce n’est pas très habituel.^[6][4]
3. (theology) Grâce habituelle: the grace that dwells permanently in the soul.^[3]

Word family

• habituellement

Related words

• habituer
• habitude
• habit
• Latin habitus

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