Etymologically
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intention

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 12:14. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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