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Etymology and origin of the French word intelligence

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1175 Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Chronique des ducs de Normandie More words from the 12th century
Borrowed from
Latin intelligentia
Ultimate origin
Latin legō

Pronunciation

  • /ɛ̃.tɛ.li.ʒɑ̃s/[1]

Forms

intelligence f (plural intelligences)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin intelligentia (“understanding, the faculty of understanding”), a variant of intellegentia.[2][3][4] The Latin noun is derived from intellegō (“to understand”), properly to choose between things in the mind, formed from inter (“between”) and legō (“to gather, pick; read”).[3] Rey connects the verb with an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to gather, choose”).[3] In Christian and Medieval Latin the word also meant “good understanding, agreement”, and by about 1205 “spiritual being, angel”.[2][3]

Cognate with Old Occitan intelligencia, Spanish inteligencia and Italian intelligenza.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, about 1175 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie, has the classical Latin sense “the faculty of understanding”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Nicole Oresme uses it in 1370–1372 for a spiritual being as opposed to matter, and the Académie recorded les intelligences célestes “the angels” in 1694.[2][3] About 1500 Commynes uses it for a more or less secret relation between people, and in the plural for secret dealings or complicity.[2][5] The phrases être d’intelligence avec quelqu’un (1643, Corneille) and en bonne intelligence (1638) come from this sense of agreement.[3][6] From 1611 the word was used, after English, for information supplied by spies, a use that later died out.[3]

In the 16th century intelligence de meant the understanding of something (1559, Amyot).[2][3] The common sense of a quality of a mind that understands quickly is from the 17th century,[3] and in the middle of the 19th century the word came to mean a highly intelligent person.[3] Intelligence artificielle is a calque of American English.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for the faculty of understanding.[2]
  • 1370–1372 – Oresme uses it for a spiritual being.[2][3]
  • c. 1500 – Commynes uses it for a secret understanding between people.[2]
  • 1541 – Calvin uses it for the understanding of a text.[6][7]
  • 1559 – Amyot uses intelligence de for the act of understanding something.[2][3]
  • 1611 – It is used, after English, for secret information.[3]
  • 1638 – First record of en bonne intelligence.[3][6]
  • 1643 – Corneille writes être d’intelligence avec quelqu’un.[3][6]
  • 1694 – The Académie records les intelligences célestes.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The faculty of knowing and understanding; the quality of a mind that understands and adapts easily: une intelligence vive.[8][9]
  2. The mental functions aimed at rational knowledge, as opposed to sensation and intuition.[8][9]
  3. Intelligence artificielle: artificial intelligence, the theories and techniques of computer programs that imitate human cognitive abilities.[8][3]
  4. A person regarded as an intelligent being: c’est une grande intelligence.[3][5]
  5. Understanding of something: pour l’intelligence du texte.[5][3]
  6. (dated) Agreement, complicity: être d’intelligence avec quelqu’un, vivre en bonne intelligence.[3][6]
  7. (in the plural) Secret dealings with the other side.[3][2]

References

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 738a
  5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Intelligence.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/intelligence. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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