intermittent

Forms

intermittent (feminine intermittente, masculine plural intermittents, feminine plural intermittentes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin intermittēns (“leaving off for a time, interrupting”), the present participle of intermittō (“to leave in between, interrupt”).^[2][3][4] The Latin verb is formed from inter- (“between”) and mittō, which first meant “to let go” and then “to send”, the source of mettre.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1559 in maladie intermittente, in Jehan Falcon's glosses on the Guidon, a surgical treatise: an illness that stops and returns at intervals.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word began in medicine: fièvre intermittente, a fever that comes and goes, was its common use, and Furetière recorded pouls intermittent in 1690.^[6][3] It was applied to a spring that flows and stops in turn (fontaine intermittente, in the Encyclopédie of 1757), to abstract notions (Baudelaire, 1860) and to a person whose work or presence is discontinuous.^[2][3][6] Today les intermittents du spectacle are people in the performing arts who are employed only from time to time.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 1559 – Maladie intermittente in Jehan Falcon.^[2]
• 1680 – Used of a bodily function.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records pouls intermittent.^[6]
• 1757 – Fontaine intermittente in the Encyclopédie.^[2][6]
• 1860 – Baudelaire uses it of abstract things.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. intermittent: stopping and starting again at intervals, the opposite of continu.^[2][7]
2. (medicine) Of a fever or pulse, returning at intervals: fièvre intermittente, pouls intermittent.^[7][6]
3. Of a spring, flowing and stopping in turn: source intermittente.^[2][7]
4. Of a light, flashing on and off.^[7]

Noun

1. A worker employed only from time to time, especially in les intermittents du spectacle, performers and technicians of the entertainment industry.^[7][3]

Word family

• intermittence

Related words

• mettre
• intermission
• Latin intermittō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique 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. ^ 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. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert