incarnation

Forms

incarnation f (plural incarnations)^[1] Old French incarnatiun, incarnaciun and incarnacion;^[2][3][4] incarnation is found about 1207 in Villehardouin.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin incarnātiō (“the taking on of a body”), said especially of Christ taking human form, derived from the supine of incarnō (“to enter a body”), which is formed on carō (“flesh”).^[2][5][3] Wiktionary traces it through Old French incarnacion and Middle French incarnation.^[1]

Compare Old Occitan encarnatio, Spanish encarnación and Italian incarnazione.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) has incarnatiun in the religious sense, the incarnation of Christ.^[2][5] A 12th-century translation of the Books of Kings speaks of a prophet who sang of the incarnatiun Nostre Seignur.^[4]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the word belonged to theology: l'incarnation de Jésus-Christ, or simply l'Incarnation, the union in Christ of the divine and human natures.^[5][2] Medieval dates were reckoned from it, and the ère de l'Incarnation counted the years from the conception of Christ on 25 March.^[4]

It was later applied to any deity or spirit taking a human or animal body, as in the incarnations of Vishnu, and to the being so formed (1873).^[3][6] The figurative sense, the visible form in which an abstract idea shows itself, appears in 1831 in Balzac's La Peau de chagrin, following the uses of the verb incarner.^[2][5] The derivative réincarnation is recorded in 1875.^[5]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – Incarnatiun in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire.^[2][5]
• c. 1207 – The spelling incarnation in Villehardouin.^[3]
• 1831 – Balzac uses it figuratively.^[2][5]
• 1873 – Larousse records the sense “incarnate being”.^[3]
• 1875 – The derivative réincarnation.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act by which a deity or spirit takes the body of a human or an animal: les incarnations de Shiva.^[6][7][8]
2. (Christianity, usually Incarnation) The union of the divine and human natures in Christ: le mystère de l'Incarnation.^[6][7][9]
3. A being in which a deity is incarnated.^[3][9]
4. (figurative) The embodiment or personification of an abstract quality: ce juge est l'incarnation de la rigueur.^[6][7][2]

Related words

• incarner
• réincarnation
• désincarnation
• incarnat
• chair
• Latin carō

Usage notes

In the theological sense it is written with a capital: l'Incarnation.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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
7. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale