incident

Forms

incident m (plural incidents)^[1] Adjective: incident (feminine incidente, masculine plural incidents, feminine plural incidentes).^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin incidēns, present participle of incidō (“to fall into or upon, to happen by coincidence”).^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert dictionaries take the noun from the Latin of the schoolmen.^[5][4][6] The Latin verb is formed from in- and cadō (“to fall”), the source of choir.^[3][4][7]

The adjective comes from the legal use of the noun;^[3] its sense in optics was taken in the 18th century from English incident, of the same Latin origin, which had it from 1667.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in 1265, as a small event that happens;^[4][6][3] Bloch and Wartburg cite it from Jean de Meun.^[5] The adjective appears in 1468 in questions ou differences incidentes, points that interrupt the course of a lawsuit.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun first meant a small event that occurs;^[3] Villon used it for a digression (about 1460). From the late 14th century it named a side issue arising in a lawsuit.^[3] From the law came l'incident est clos “let the quarrel end there” and the sense of an objection raised in a debate (1675).^[3][6] In painting (1641) and then of plays and novels (after 1650), it was a secondary event in the course of the main action.^[3][7] Since the 19th century it has meant a passing difficulty that does not change the course of things, hence sans incident “normally”; from the early 20th century it is also a small unforeseen event that may have serious consequences, as in incident diplomatique, and by extension a disturbance, as in provoquer des incidents.^[3][6]

The adjective, at first legal (1468), took the common sense “accessory, secondary” in 1549.^[3][8] In physics (rayon incident, 1720) it is borrowed from English, and in grammar (1732) it qualifies a clause inserted into a sentence, made a feminine noun incidente in 1765.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1265 – First record of the noun incident.^[4][6]
• c. 1292 – Anglo-Norman texts use it for an event and as an adjective “incidental, attached to”.^[9]
• c. 1460 – Villon uses it for a digression.^[3]
• 1468 – The adjective appears in questions ou differences incidentes in a lawsuit.^[2][3]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne records the adjective in the sense “accessory, secondary”.^[8][3]
• 1675 – The noun is used for an objection raised in a debate.^[3]
• 1720 – Rayon incident appears in Coste's treatise on optics.^[2][3]
• 1732 – Richelet records propositions incidentes in grammar.^[2][3]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses incidente as a feminine noun.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A minor event that occurs, often an unforeseen difficulty: le trajet s'est passé sans incident, incident technique, incident de parcours.^[6][3][1]
2. An event of little weight in itself that can have serious consequences, especially between states: incident diplomatique; also, a disturbance: des incidents ont éclaté après le match.^[6][3]
3. (literary history) A secondary event in the course of the main action of a play or novel, an episode.^[6][7]
4. (law) A side issue raised during a lawsuit that interrupts its course; figuratively, an objection in a debate: l'incident est clos.^[6][7][3]

Adjective

1. (law) Arising incidentally in a lawsuit: demande incidente.^[6][8]
2. Accessory, secondary: une remarque incidente.^[6][2][1]
3. (physics) Falling on a surface or body, incident: rayon incident, onde incidente.^[6][2][1]
4. (grammar) Of a clause, inserted into a sentence to add an accessory statement; as a feminine noun, une incidente, such a clause.^[6][2]

Word family

• incidemment
• incidente
• incidenter
• incidentel

Related words

• choir
• Latin incidō
• English incident

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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 g h i j k l m n Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert 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 c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)