injecter

Forms

injecter^[1] First spelled injetter (1555), a more popular form.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin iniectō (“to throw on”), coined by physicians to serve as the verb of injection.^[2][4][5][6] The Latin verb is formed on iniectus, the past participle of iniciō (“to throw in or on”), from in- and iaciō (“to throw”);^[1][3] Rey calls it a doublet of the latter.^[4] Littré instead derives the French verb directly from the Latin supine.^[7] It belongs to the family of jeter.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barthélemy Aneau uses injetter in 1555, in his Trésor de Evonime Philiatre des remèdes secrets, for putting a liquid into the body with a syringe or another instrument; this record stands alone.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb was taken up again in the 18th century: the past participle injecté is found in 1722 (1721 according to Rey), and injecter une plaie “to syringe a wound” in the Trévoux dictionary of 1771.^[2][4][5] The past participle is used of tissues into which blood has suddenly flowed, in yeux injectés (Buffon, 1749), and the reflexive took the same sense in Dumas's Monte-Cristo (1846).^[2][4]

Like injection, it entered technical language: in 1872 Littré's supplement records it for impregnating wood with a protective substance.^[2][4] About 1965 it came into economics, of putting credit or capital into a firm or sector,^[8] and it is used in spaceflight for putting a craft into orbit.^[8] The adjective injectable is first recorded in 1925.^[2]

Timeline

• 1555 – Aneau uses injetter in a book of remedies.^[2]
• 1722 – The past participle injecté appears in the Journal des Sçavans.^[2]
• 1749 – Buffon writes of yeux injectez.^[2]
• 1771 – The Trévoux dictionary has injecter une plaie.^[2]
• 1846 – Dumas has ses yeux s'injectèrent de sang.^[2]
• 1872 – Littré's supplement records the sense of treating wood.^[2]
• 1925 – Injectable is first recorded.^[2]
• c. 1965 – The economic sense “to put capital into” appears.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (medicine) To inject a liquid or a gas under pressure into the body, a tissue or a cavity: injecter un vaccin à un patient.^[8][2]
2. (reflexive) S'injecter: of the eyes, to become bloodshot.^[8][2]
3. To force a liquid under pressure into a material, to impregnate it: injecter un produit dans une poutre.^[8][3]
4. (astronautics) To put a craft into orbit.^[8]
5. (economics) To put credit or capital into a firm or a sector to revive it.^[8]

Word family

• injectable

Related words

• injection
• jeter
• Latin iniectō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 696b
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert