internement

Forms

internement m (plural internements)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French interner + -ment.^[2][1][3][4] The verb interner is itself formed on interne, from Latin internus (“inward, internal”).^[1][5] Rey notes that the administrative and medical uses of the noun seem to be recorded before the corresponding uses of the verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert, the GLLF and Rey date it to 1838, in the Bulletin des lois of 30 June, for the act of interning a person and for the measure that obliged someone to reside in a given place.^[4][6][5] The TLFi's first record is Flaubert's, in 1852, for confining a mentally ill person.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun follows the uses of interner.^[5] In the 19th century it named forced residence in a fixed place that one was forbidden to leave, as Littré records in 1867, a sense now dated.^[2][6][7] From 1873 it was also used of a neutral country that keeps on its territory, under guard, a foreign army that has crossed its border.^[6][2]

In modern use it is the detention of a person by administrative decision rather than after a conviction (recorded by Larousse in 1962),^[6] and especially placement in a psychiatric hospital.^[7][8] Larousse notes that the law of 27 June 1990 gave up the term for the procedures of compulsory hospitalisation.^[8] English internment (1840) is compared with the French word by Etymonline.^[9]

Timeline

• 1838 – Recorded in the Bulletin des lois of 30 June.^[6][4]
• 1852 – Flaubert uses it of confining a mentally ill person.^[2]
• 1867 – Littré records the sense “forced residence”.^[2][6]
• 1873 – Larousse records it for the holding of a foreign army by a neutral country.^[6]
• 1962 – Larousse records it as an administrative measure of security.^[6]
• 1990 – A law of 27 June replaces it with the procedures of compulsory hospitalisation.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of interning someone, or the state of a person interned; internment, detention by administrative decision.^[7][8][6] Camp d'internement: an internment camp.^[7]
2. Placement of a person in a psychiatric hospital, on a medical certificate.^[7][8] Internement abusif: wrongful committal.^[7][8]
3. (dated) Forced residence in a fixed place.^[7][2]
4. The holding under guard, by a neutral country, of a foreign army that has crossed its border.^[2][6]

Related words

• interner
• interné
• interne
• internat
• Latin internus
• English internment

Usage notes

Larousse notes that French law dropped the term in 1990, replacing the old placement volontaire and placement d'office with hospitalisation sur demande d'un tiers and hospitalisation d'office.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com