interne

Forms

interne (plural internes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin internus (“inner, internal”),^[2][1][3] together with its neuter plural interna (“the inside, the entrails”).^[4] The Latin adjective is formed from inter (“between, within”) with the suffix -nus.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as a noun, “what is inside”, in an alchemical treatise attributed to Nicolas Flamel: Mais si pour avoir son interne, L'on en separoit son externe.^[5][2] Littré, Bloch and Wartburg and Rey place the text in the 14th century; the TLFi dates it by its first edition, 1561.^[5][3][4][2] The adjective is taken up about 1560 by Paré, in maladie interne, a disease of an inner organ.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

From medicine the adjective passed to abstract use, as in Montaigne's qualitez internes of the soul (1580).^[4][5] From 1597 it meant situated inside or facing inwards, hence its use in geometry (angles internes, 1704).^[4][2] It was used of feelings from the mid-18th century, and of introspection in observation interne (1845).^[4]

In the 19th century the noun came to denote a medical student who lives in the hospital where he serves (1818) and a pupil who boards at school (1829), the use that goes with internat.^[2][4] Médecine interne dates from about 1973, after English.^[4][7] English borrowed intern “assistant doctor” from the French noun in 1879, and the verb intern “confine” from interner in 1866.^[8]

Timeline

• 14th century – An alchemical treatise uses interne as a noun.^[5][4]
• c. 1560 – Paré writes of maladies internes.^[4][5]
• 1561 – First edition of the treatise attributed to Flamel, the TLFi's date.^[2]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it figuratively.^[2][4]
• 1597 – In the sense “situated inside”.^[2]
• 1704 – Angles internes in geometry.^[4]
• 1818 – The noun is used of a resident medical student.^[2]
• 1829 – Boiste records it of a boarder.^[2]
• 1879 – English intern is borrowed from it.^[8]
• c. 1973 – Médecine interne appears.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Situated inside or facing inwards;^[7][2] (anatomy) inside the body, or nearer the median plane: oreille interne.^[7][2]
2. Belonging to the inside of something;^[7] (medicine) affecting the inside of the body or an organ.^[7]
3. Belonging to the thing itself; intrinsic: causes internes.^[7][5]
4. Médecine interne: internal medicine.^[7]

Noun

1. A boarder, a pupil lodged and fed at school.^[7][1]
2. A medical intern living in the hospital where he or she works.^[7][1]

Word family

• internat
• interner

Related words

• externe
• intérieur
• Latin internus
• English intern

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com