isolé

Forms

isolé (feminine isolée, masculine plural isolés, feminine plural isolées)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian isolato (“built as an islet, separated”), the past participle of isolare (“to make like an island, to separate”), from isola (“island, block of houses”), which comes from Latin insula, the source also of île.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Bloch and Wartburg note that the Italian verb seems to be later than the adjective, as the French verb is.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1575, in Guillaume Paradin, in the sense “shaped like an island”.^[2][5] It began as a term of architecture, for what forms a free-standing building, and spread in the second half of the 17th century (Félibien, 1676, of a column or a house).^[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

It was applied to a person cut off from others in 1694 (Boursault, cœurs isolés) and in La Bruyère (1696).^[2][3] In the 18th century it was used of a passage detached from its context (Rousseau, 1758) and of a place standing apart (Voltaire, Candide, 1759).^[2][3]

Condorcet used it of facts separated from their surroundings for analysis (1794), and Lamennais of a fact that is rare or unique (1831).^[2][3] In military use it named a soldier belonging to no unit (1835), also as a noun (1893), and in electricity a body not in contact with a conductor (1867).^[3][5] The verb isoler, formed from the adjective, followed in 1653.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1575 – Paradin uses it in the sense “shaped like an island”.^[2]
• 1676 – Félibien speaks of an isolée column and house.^[2][3]
• 1694 – Boursault applies it to people.^[2][3]
• 1758 – Rousseau uses it of a passage cut from its context.^[2]
• 1759 – Voltaire's Candide has une maison isolée.^[2]
• 1831 – Lamennais uses it of a rare or unique fact.^[2][3]
• 1835 – A soldier without a unit is called isolé.^[3][5]
• 1867 – It is used in electricity.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Separate from other things of the same kind, standing alone: quelques sifflets isolés.^[7][8]
2. Far from other dwellings, remote: un hameau isolé.^[7][2]
3. Cut off from other people, solitary: Depuis son départ, elle se sent isolée.^[7][3]
4. Taken out of its context, or rare and unique: un fait isolé.^[2][8]
5. (electricity) Insulated, not in contact with a conductor.^[3][5]

Noun

1. A person who lives cut off from others.^[7]
2. (military, dated) A soldier who belongs to no unit.^[3][5]
3. (cycling) A rider not attached to a team, especially in the Tour de France.^[1][9]

Word family

• isoler
• isolateur
• isolement
• isoloir

Related words

• île
• insulaire
• Latin insula

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 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 k l m n o 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. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF