industriel

Forms

industriel (feminine industrielle, masculine plural industriels, feminine plural industrielles)^[1] Middle French industrial, plural industriaux (1471); the modern form appears in 1804.^[2][3]

Etymology

The TLFi takes it as formed from French industrie + -el, comparing Medieval Latin industrialis (“relating to activity”) (1400, in Du Cange).^[2][4][5] The DHLF and the Grand Robert instead see the earlier form industrial as borrowed from the Medieval Latin word.^[3][6] The base noun is from Latin industria (“activity, diligence”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1471, in a royal ordinance, in fruits industriaux, the produce of the land that requires human labour, a term of customary law linked only to farming.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The phrase fruits industrials was still listed by Trévoux in 1752, and the Code civil of 1804 has fruits industriels.^[2][3] The adjective, competing for a while with industrieux, took the modern sense “relating to industry” in 1770, in Galiani's nations industrielles, and won out at the start of the 19th century;^[2][7][3] it meant “produced by industry” from 1803.^[3] An older use for someone skilled and inventive, or for a person who practised a craft, was still current in the 19th century but has gone out of use.^[2][3]

As a noun, industriel “owner or manager of an industrial firm” is found in Saint-Simon in 1818,^[2][3] and the economic theories of that time drew from it industrialisme (1823) and industrialiser (1836).^[7] The familiar phrase quantité industrielle “a very large quantity” is from the 20th century.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1471 – Fruits industriaux appears in a royal ordinance.^[2]
• 1770 – Galiani writes of nations industrielles.^[2][7]
• 1804 – The Code civil has fruits industriels.^[2]
• 1818 – Saint-Simon uses it as a noun.^[2]
• 1834 – First record of industriellement.^[2]
• 1948 – Larousse records quantité industrielle.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to industry, as in révolution industrielle.^[8][2]
2. Produced by industry, as opposed to craft or home production.^[8][2]
3. (familiar) Quantité industrielle: a very large quantity.^[8][5]
4. Where industry is developed, as in zone industrielle.^[8][4]

Noun

1. An industrialist, the owner or manager of an industrial firm.^[8][2][4]

Word family

• industriellement
• industrialiser
• industrialisme

Related words

• industrie
• industrieux
• Latin industria

References

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