insignifiant

Forms

insignifiant (feminine insignifiante, masculine plural insignifiants, feminine plural insignifiantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French in- + signifiant, the present participle of signifier used as an adjective.^[2][3][1] Bloch and Wartburg note that the participle itself (1553) is no longer used as an adjective, though Madame de Staël still used it at the end of the 18th century.^[4] The verb is from Latin significō (“to indicate, signify”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Fougeret de Monbron's Margot la Ravaudeuse (1750), describes a thing of no interest, ordinary and commonplace.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense of things of no interest came first (1750).^[2][6] It is applied to a person from 1789, in Mirabeau, of someone with little personality.^[2][6] The literal sense, “that means nothing”, is found in Helvétius in 1771 (the GLLF has it from Diderot in 1767);^[2][7] it has stayed rare, even in 20th-century semiology, where it qualifies what is not a sign.^[6]

From 1778 it also means small in amount, slight or negligible.^[2][6] The noun insignifiance followed in 1785.^[4][6] In Quebec the noun insignifiant is a derogatory word for a dull person of no importance.^[1]

Timeline

• 1750 – First record, in Fougeret de Monbron's Margot la Ravaudeuse, of a thing of no interest.^[2]
• 1771 – Helvétius uses it for “meaning nothing”.^[2]
• 1778 – The sense “slight, negligible” appears, in a letter of Vergennes.^[2][6]
• 1785 – The noun insignifiance is recorded.^[4][6]
• 1789 – Mirabeau applies it to a person.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated, technical) Without meaning, signifying nothing.^[8][2]
2. Of no interest, unremarkable: un film insignifiant.^[8][9] Of a person, colourless, nondescript.^[8][9]
3. Unimportant, of no consequence, negligible: une différence insignifiante.^[8][9]

Noun

1. (Quebec, derogatory) A dull person of no importance.^[1]

Word family

• insignifiance

Related words

• signifier
• signifiant
• signification
• Latin significō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 604a
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert