influx

Forms

influx m^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin influxus (“a flowing in”), which in scholastic Latin also meant “influence”.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun comes from the supine of influō (“to flow in”),^[6][7] formed in- and fluxus (“flow”).^[8]

English influx (1620s) is from the French word or directly from the Late Latin one.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1547, in the Blason de la goutte, for the influence of the stars: par influx de celeste action “through the influx of heavenly action”.^[2][4] Rémy Belleau, in the same century, wrote of the secret virtues of stones flowing from the influx des planettes “influx of the planets”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the stars the word passed in the 18th century to any force acting in a mysterious way, first (1768–1772, in Euler's letters) the action of the soul on the body.^[2][4] Hence the sense “active force”, and in physiology influx nerveux “nerve impulse”, recorded in Broussais in 1834.^[2][4][1] In spiritualism it named the action of a spirit on the vital fluid (1902).^[7]

Littré gave it only as a learned word for a flowing onto or into something.^[8] The general sense “something that flows or spreads” is rare in modern French.^[2]

Timeline

• 1547 – First record, of the influence of the stars.^[2][3]
• 1620s – English influx is first recorded.^[9]
• 1768–1772 – Euler uses it of the soul's action on the body.^[2][4]
• 1834 – Influx nerveux appears in Broussais.^[2][4][1]
• 1902 – A spiritualist sense is recorded by Larousse.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A hypothetical fluid or force passing an action on to beings or things: l'influx de la grâce divine.^[1][5]
2. (physiology) Influx nerveux: the nerve impulse, the transmission of excitation along the nerves.^[1][5]
3. (rare) Something that flows or spreads, also figuratively.^[2]

Related words

• influer
• influence
• flux
• Latin influxus
• English influx

References

1. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com