incorporation

Forms

incorporation f (plural incorporations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin incorporātiō (“action of incorporating”), which in Christian Latin also meant “incarnation”.^[2][3][4] The Latin noun is formed on the supine of incorporō (“to put into a body”), itself from corpus (“body”).^[3][5][6] It belongs with incorporer, which French had already taken from the Latin verb in the 12th century.^[6][4]

Littré compares Old Occitan incorporation, Spanish incorporación and Italian incorporazione.^[7] Wiktionary instead treats it as inherited from Old French incorporacion.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert and the DHLF date the word to the early 15th century, in a religious sense that the GLLF calls unclear.^[3][4][5] The TLFi's first record is from Georges Chastellain in 1461, in demander incorporation à “to ask to be admitted into” a body.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From admission into a body, the word moved in the 16th century to the joining of one thing to another.^[2][5] About 1560 Ambroise Paré used it of mixing substances closely together,^[5][7] and about 1570 Carloix used it of the annexation of territory, here the imperial towns taken into France.^[2][5][7] Furetière in 1690 recorded the merging of two companies and the pharmacy sense, the working of a drug into a soft or liquid excipient.^[2][5]

The military sense followed the army's own organisation: the transfer of soldiers into a new regiment is recorded by the Dictionnaire de Trévoux in 1771, and with conscription the entry of recruits on the army rolls, recorded by the Académie in 1835.^[4][5][8] Today the word is also used in law, for property gained by accession, in finance, for reserves carried into capital, and in psychoanalysis.^[9][10]

Timeline

• Early 15th century – First recorded, in a religious context.^[3][4]
• 1461 – Georges Chastellain uses demander incorporation à “to ask to be admitted into”.^[2]
• c. 1560 – Ambroise Paré uses it of mixing one substance into another.^[5]
• c. 1570 – Carloix uses it of the annexation of territory.^[2][5]
• 1690 – Furetière records the merging of two companies and the pharmacy sense.^[2][5]
• 1771 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the transfer of soldiers into a new regiment.^[4]
• 1835 – The Académie records the enrolment of conscripts.^[4][5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mixing of one substance into another, and the result of it: l’incorporation du beurre dans la pâte.^[2][9][10]
2. (pharmacy) The working of one or more drugs into a soft or liquid excipient.^[2][5]
3. The bringing of an element into a whole, such as the annexation of a territory or the integration of a group into a community.^[9][10][11]
4. (military) The enrolment of recruits or reservists in the unit they are assigned to.^[10][1][8]
5. (law) The acquisition of property by accession.^[9]
6. (finance) The transfer of reserves or undistributed profits into capital.^[9]
7. (psychoanalysis) A fantasised relation in which the subject takes an object into his own body.^[10]

Related words

• incorporer
• corps
• corporation
• incorporel
• Latin incorporātiō

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)