inexpérience

Forms

inexpérience f (plural inexpériences)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French in- + expérience, or else borrowed from Late Latin inexperientia (“inexperience”);^[2][3][4] the Late Latin noun is from inexperiens (“inexperienced”), from in- and experiens, the present participle of experior (“to try, to test”).^[3][5] The GLLF and Larousse give only the Latin source.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is from 1460, in the Droits de la couronne de France, in the sense “lack of experience”;^[2] Bloch and Wartburg found it as early as 1452.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The word was rare until 1762, when the Académie recorded it.^[3][8][5] Besides the lack of experience, the naivety of someone young or new to a task, it came to name by metonymy a piece of clumsiness, a mistake born of inexperience (before 1869, Sainte-Beuve).^[4][5] Lautréamont used an adjective inexpérient (1869), which did not catch on.^[4]

Timeline

• 1452 – Earliest record according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[8][4]
• 1460 – Recorded in the Droits de la couronne de France.^[2]
• 16th century – Villeroy uses it in his Mémoires.^[9]
• 1762 – The Académie admits it; it was rare before then.^[8][5][3]
• 1869 – Before this date Sainte-Beuve uses it of a blunder due to inexperience.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of expérience: inexperience, naivety.^{[2][10][6][11]}
2. Inexpérience de followed by a noun: lack of experience of something, as of people or of life.^[2][10]
3. (literary) A blunder due to inexperience.^[5][4]

Related words

• expérience
• inexpérimenté
• Late Latin inexperientia

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 309a
8. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)