instantané

Forms

instantané (feminine instantanée, masculine plural instantanés, feminine plural instantanées)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French instant + -é, on the model of momentané and spontané.^[2][1][3][4] The noun instant is borrowed from Latin īnstāns.^[5] Littré explained the ending instead as the Latin -āneus of words such as Latin contemporāneus.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1604, in Duval's L'Eschole françoise, meaning “lasting only a moment”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In 1798 the Académie recorded the sense “happening suddenly, in an instant”.^[2][7] The term photographie instantanée, for a photograph taken with a very short exposure, is dated 1857 by Rey and the Petit Robert and 1874 by the TLFi; from it came the noun un instantané “snapshot”, used by the Goncourts in 1889–1890.^[7][3][2] Taine used the noun for “the present instant” (1866), and the Goncourts for “a depiction of a precise moment” (1878).^[2][7]

The sense “that dissolves or is prepared instantly” (café instantané) was prompted by English instant and is recorded in Canada in 1955.^[7] Rey also notes a late 19th-century slang feminine noun instantanée “prostitute”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1604 – Duval uses it for “lasting a moment”.^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie records une frayeur instantanée, “sudden”.^[2]
• 1857 – Photographie instantanée is recorded.^[7][3]
• 1866 – Taine uses the noun for “the present instant”.^[2]
• 1889 – Un instantané “snapshot”.^[7][3]
• 1955 – The sense “instant (food)” is recorded in Canada.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lasting only an instant; very brief: un éclair instantané.^[3][2]
2. Happening at once, immediate: Sa réponse fut instantanée.^[3][1]
3. (dated, photography) Taken with a very short exposure.^[3][2]
4. That dissolves or is ready in an instant: café instantané.^[3][7]

Noun

1. (photography) A snapshot.^[3][1]
2. (computing) A snapshot of the state of a system.^[1]

Word family

• instantanéité
• instantanément

Related words

• instant
• momentané
• spontané

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 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert