information

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.ma.sjɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

information f (plural informations)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French informer + -ation.^[2][3][4][5] Latin īnfōrmātiō, from the supine of īnfōrmō (“to shape; to instruct”), meant “sketch, outline; idea, conception” and “explanation (of a word)”, senses not found in French, which is why the TLFi, Rey and the GLLF take the French noun from the verb;^{[2][3][5][1][6]} Wiktionary and the Petit Robert give the Latin noun as the source.^{[2][3][5][1][6]} The verb is a remaking after the Latin verb of Old French enformer (“to form, instruct”), from fōrma (“form”).^[7]

The Latin noun also gave Old Occitan informacio, Spanish información and Italian informazione.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record (1274, Poitiers) is legal: an inquiry into a criminal matter by officers of the law;^[2][3] faire des enformacions “to hold judicial inquiries” is from 1323.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century it meant the information one obtains about someone (about 1360, Jean le Bel, in the plural); about 1500 Commynes uses the plural for the body of knowledge gathered on a subject, a sense rare before the 20th century.^[2][3] The scholarly sense “the giving of a form” (1495) has died out.^[2][3]

In the second half of the 19th century it came to mean the act of gathering information (voyage d'information, 1867), and under the Third Republic, with the growth of the press, information brought to the knowledge of the public (1886, Zola); hence, early in the 20th century, “the news” and “the informing of the public”.^[3][2] The plural les informations is the news bulletin, familiarly les infos (1972), and, from the 1950s the word produced terms of the media and of computing such as informatique.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1274 – A criminal inquiry.^[2][3]
• 1323 – Faire des enformacions.^[2]
• c. 1360 – “Information (about someone)”, in Jean le Bel.^[2]
• c. 1500 – “Body of knowledge”, in Commynes.^[2]
• 1495 – “The giving of a form”.^[2]
• 1867 – Voyage d'information.^[3]
• 1886 – News brought to the public, in Zola.^[2][3]
• 1972 – Infos “news bulletin”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of information, (uncountable) information: des informations confidentielles.^[6][1]
2. News brought to the public, les informations, the news bulletin on radio or television.^[6][1][3]
3. The act of informing the public, the media: la liberté d'information.^[3][6]
4. (law) A preliminary inquiry into an offence: ouvrir une information.^[6][2]
5. (computing, science) Information as data that can be stored and transmitted.^[5][6]

Word family

• informationnel

Related words

• informateur
• informatique
• informer
• forme
• Latin īnfōrmātiō

References

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