idiosyncrasie

Forms

idiosyncrasie f (plural idiosyncrasies)^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰδιοσυγκρασία (idiosunkrasía, “particular temperament”),^{[2][4][5][6][1]} a Late Greek compound of ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, particular”) and σύγκρασις (súnkrasis, “mixture, temperament”),^[4][5][7][8] which is from κρᾶσις (krâsis, “mixing”).^[4][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1581, in Nancel's Discours très ample de la peste, as a medical term for the particular constitution of an individual.^[2][7][4] Bloch and Wartburg date it 1626.^[6][10]

Semantic evolution

Long a term of medicine, for an organism's own way of reacting to outside agents,^[4][6] it was widened in the 19th century to a person's own temperament (1856, Baudelaire).^[4][7] Under the influence of the English word idiosyncrasy, of the same origin, it took on the senses of an individual reaction to a drug, in pharmacology, and in linguistics of a speaker's personal way of organizing the rules of a language.^[4]

Timeline

• 1581 – First recorded, in Nancel.^[2][7]
• 1626 – The date Bloch and Wartburg give.^[6]
• 1808 – Cabanis uses the adjective idiosyncratique.^[4]
• 1832 – The adjective idiosyncrasique is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1856 – Baudelaire uses it for a person's temperament.^[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) The particular, usually innate, disposition of an individual to react in a personal way to physical or chemical agents; compare anaphylaxie.^[3][2][8]
2. (formal) A person's own temperament or personality.^[3][4]
3. (pharmacology) An individual reaction to a drug.^[4]

Word family

• idiosyncrasique
• idiosyncratique

Related words

• idiot
• idiome
• crase
• cratère
• English idiosyncrasy

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF