intention

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

intention f (plural intentions)^[1] Old French entenciun (1119), entancion (1176); intencion from about 1180, with the prefix remade after Latin.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin intentiō (“stretching; attention; purpose; intensity”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed on the supine of intendō (“to stretch towards; to direct the mind”) (see entendre), itself from tendō (“to stretch”) (see tendre).^[3][2] In scholastic Latin the noun meant the application of the mind to an object and the content of a thought, the source of the philosophical sense.^[2][3]

Wiktionary describes it as inherited from Old French entencion, respelled after Latin in Middle French.^[1] Compare Old Occitan entencio, Spanish intención and Italian intenzione.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119) has entenciun in the sense “understanding, opinion”, which has disappeared.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Chrétien de Troyes (Cligès, 1176) uses it in the Latin sense “the fact of setting oneself an aim”, which remains alive; from it came à l'intention de “for, in honour of” (mid-15th century), often with a religious background, and en l'intention que (1546), lost after the 17th century.^[2][3] The scholastic sense is in Bonivard (1563, première intention), and Husserl's translators use it in phenomenology (1931).^[2]

Paré (1572) uses it in surgery for drawing the lips of a wound together.^[2][3] Direction d'intention (Pascal, 1656) belonged to the quarrel between Jesuits and Jansenists.^[3][2] From the 17th century the word means the aim one sets oneself and, in the 18th century, a firm and premeditated design, l'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions is recorded by Littré (1867), after Furetière's l'enfer est plein de bonnes intentions (1690).^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1119 – Entenciun “understanding”, Philippe de Thaon.^[2]
• 1176 – “Purpose”, Chrétien de Troyes's Cligès.^[2]
• c. 1180 – The spelling intencion.^[2]
• 1563 – Scholastic première intention.^[2]
• 1572 – Surgical sense, Paré.^[2]
• 1656 – Direction d'intention, Pascal.^[2]
• 1690 – L'enfer est plein de bonnes intentions, Furetière.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An intention, purpose, design: avoir l'intention de, c'est l'intention qui compte, l'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions.^[9][1][8]
2. (law) The conscious will to commit a prohibited act: l'intention de nuire.^[9]
3. À l'intention de: for, intended for; in honour of.^[3][9]
4. Procès d'intention: judging someone on presumed motives.^[8]
5. (philosophy) The directing of the mind towards an object.^[2]
6. (surgery) Réunion par première intention: healing of a wound by direct union of its edges.^[2][8]

Word family

• intentionné
• malintentionné
• intentionnel

Related words

• entendre
• tendre
• intense

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 q 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 747a
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert