influence

Forms

influence f (plural influences)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin īnfluentia (“action of the stars on human fate”), recorded in 1241,^{[2][3][4][1][5]} itself from Latin īnfluō (“to flow into”), formed from in- and fluō (“to flow”).^[2][6][1] Littré gives Old Occitan influencia, Spanish influencia and Italian influenza beside it.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1240 in the Épître de saint Jérôme, as la devine inflüence, for a kind of flow supposed to come from the stars and to act on people and things.^[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

The astrological sense was extended as early as the 13th century to the slow and continuous action of a person or thing on another (influence de devocion in a manuscript of Ramon Llull, late 13th century).^[2][3] The Roman de la Rose speaks of the comets that cast their influances.^[7]

From this came “authority, prestige” that brings others round to one's view (1780) and the political or intellectual sway of a country or civilization, as in Madame de Staël's l'influence française (1793).^[2][3] In the 19th century physics took it for an effect produced at a distance (1814).^[2][3] The familiar le faire à l'influence (1901) gave it the value of intimidation.^[3][8] The verb influencer followed in 1771 and was criticized at the end of the 18th century.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1240 – La devine inflüence appears, of the stars' flow.^[2][3]
• Late 13th century – It is used of the action of one thing on another.^[2][3]
• 1771 – The verb influencer appears.^[3]
• 1780 – Linguet uses it for “authority, prestige”.^[2][8]
• 1793 – Madame de Staël writes l'influence française.^[2][3]
• 1814 – It is used in physics of an effect at a distance.^[2][3]
• 1901 – Le faire à l'influence “to intimidate” is recorded.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action that a thing or situation exercises on someone or something, an effect: l'influence de la lune sur les marées.^[6][9][2]
2. Sous l'influence de: under the effect of (drink, a drug, an emotion).^[6]
3. The ascendancy of one person over another: agir sous l'influence de sa sœur.^[9][6]
4. Social or political power that allows a person, a group or a country to act on events and decisions.^[9][3]
5. (physics) Influence électrostatique: the displacement of electric charges in a conductor under the field of other charged bodies, induction.^[6]
6. (obsolete) A flow coming from the stars and acting on people and things.^[6][8][2]

Word family

• influencer
• influençable

Related words

• influer
• influent
• Latin īnfluō

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 k l m 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 677a
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)