impressionner

Forms

impressionner^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French impression + -er.^[2][1][3][4] The base noun, in the sense “effect of outside things on the senses”, recorded from 1468, is borrowed from the philosophical term Latin impressio (“impression on the senses”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1741 in Gaudet: elle impressionne tous les cœurs, “she makes a strong impression on every heart”; the TLFi's first record, with a person as object, is from 1762.^[3][5][2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was to affect someone with a strong feeling.^[2][5] Physiology then used it for the action of a stimulus on a sense organ, recorded in Madame de Staël at the beginning of the 19th century and in Boiste in 1812.^[5][2][6] With photography it came to mean to leave an image on a sensitive plate (1859–1862).^[5][2][7] Littré still called the sense “to cause a moral impression” a neologism.^[8]

The present participle impressionnant “making a strong impression” (before 1801, Restif de La Bretonne) widened to “remarkable, considerable” (1896, Jules Renard); purists criticised this sense, but Littré and the Académie (1935) admitted it.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1741 – Gaudet writes impressionne tous les cœurs.^[3][5]
• 1762 – Used with a person as object.^[2][5]
• 1780 – Impressionnable is recorded.^[4][5]
• before 1801 – Restif de La Bretonne uses impressionnant.^[2]
• 1812 – Boiste records the physiological sense.^[2]
• 1859 – Impressionner une plaque photographique is recorded.^[5][7]
• 1896 – Jules Renard uses impressionnant for “impressive, considerable”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To impress, to make a strong impression on; to move, strike or intimidate: ce film m'a beaucoup impressionné, ses cris ne nous impressionnent pas.^[7][1][9]
2. (physiology) To act on a sense organ so as to produce a sensation.^[7][2][6]
3. (photography) To leave an image on a plate or film.^[7][6]
4. S'impressionner: to be strongly affected, to let oneself be impressed.^[8]

Word family

• impressionnant
• impressionnable

Related words

• impression
• impressionniste

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)