impersonnel

Forms

impersonnel (feminine impersonnelle, masculine plural impersonnels, feminine plural impersonnelles)^[1] Old French impersonal (12th century); the form impersonnel is recorded about 1380 in the Aalma.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin impersōnālis, a grammarians' word,^[4][5][3][1] formed with the negative prefix in- on persōnālis (“personal”), from Latin persōna (“actor's mask, role, character, grammatical person”).^[2][3][6] By surface analysis it is in- + personnel.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan impersonal, Spanish impersonal, Portuguese impessoal and Italian impersonale.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as impersonal in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Thomas Becket (1174–1176), in a grammatical sense: the envoys at the pope's court spoke such bad Latin that one made a personal verb del verbe impersonal “out of the impersonal verb”.^[8][7][4]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the word belonged to grammar: a verb used without a real or definite subject.^[6] Un impersonnel for such a verb is recorded in 1606,^[4][3] and mode impersonnel for the non-finite forms of the verb in 1765.^[4][6]

The philosophical sense is a 19th-century French development.^[5] Victor Cousin used it in 1829 for what does not belong to any one person (la raison est impersonnelle),^[4][6] Michelet in 1830 for art free of any personal character and in 1833 for what is not a person,^[4][6] and Barbey d'Aurevilly in 1838 for someone who sets aside their own ideas.^[4] By 1884 it could be a pejorative term for a talent without originality.^[4]

Timeline

• 1174–1176 – Verbe impersonal appears in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Vie de saint Thomas.^[4][8]
• c. 1380 – The form impersonnel is recorded in the Aalma.^[2]
• 1606 – Used as a noun for an impersonal verb by Jean Masset.^[4][3]
• 1765 – Mode impersonnel appears in the Encyclopédie.^[4]
• 1829 – Victor Cousin calls reason impersonnelle.^[4][6]
• 1833 – Michelet uses it for what is not a person.^[4][9]
• 1884 – Recorded as a disparaging term for a talent without originality.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (grammar) Of a verb or construction: expressing an action without a real or definite subject, used only in the third person singular, as il pleut or il faut.^[9][7][4]
2. (grammar) Mode impersonnel: a non-finite mood of the verb, such as the infinitive or the participle.^[9][4]
3. Not constituting a person: le dieu des panthéistes est impersonnel.^[9]
4. Not belonging to, or not addressed to, any person in particular: la loi est impersonnelle.^[9][7]
5. Free of personal feeling or bias; objective.^[9][4]
6. (derogatory) Without individuality or warmth, bland: un appartement froid et impersonnel.^[1][4]

Noun

1. (grammar) An impersonal verb.^[9][4]

Word family

• impersonnalité
• impersonnellement

Related words

• personnel
• personne
• personnalité
• Latin persōna

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert