linguiste

Forms

linguiste m or f by sense (plural linguistes)^[1]

Etymology

The TLF-Étym takes it as a calque: it is borrowed from New Latin linguista, a word not in the dictionaries of Neo-Latin but in current use from the end of the 16th century for a person who knew several languages, especially a humanist who knew Greek and Hebrew as well as Latin.^[2] It thinks the French word was brought in by Daniel Martin of Sedan, a teacher of French in Strasbourg, who described himself as a linguist on the title pages of his French and German language manuals of 1632, 1635 and 1637.^[2]

The TLFi, the DHLF and the Grand Robert call it a learned derivative of Latin lingua (“tongue, language”) with the suffix -iste.^[3][4][5] The English word linguist is recorded earlier: in the sense “one who knows several languages” it dates from 1591, in the sense “one who studies language” from 1641;^[3][4] the TLF-Étym regards it too as a Latinism.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is on the title page of Daniel Martin's Complimens (Strasbourg, 1632), where the author signs himself Linguiste à Strasbourg: a language master or a person versed in foreign languages.^[2] Chapelain uses it in a letter of 1668.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word was very rare in the 17th century and absent from the dictionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries;^[4][5] in 1772 La Chapelle explained it as a person who knows or speaks several languages, especially learned ones, and proposed that dictionaries include it.^[2] In the 1830s–1840s, accounts of China used it for an interpreter.^[2]

The modern sense, a specialist in the scientific study of language, is recorded from 1812,^[2] and the word became current at the beginning of the 19th century together with linguistique (1826).^[4][5] In everyday use it can still describe a person with a remarkable knowledge of foreign languages.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1591 – English linguist is recorded for a person who knows several languages.^[3][4]
• 1632 – Daniel Martin calls himself Linguiste à Strasbourg.^[2]
• 1668 – Chapelain uses the word in a letter.^[3]
• 1772 – La Chapelle notes that the word is missing from French dictionaries.^[2]
• 1812 – First record of the sense “specialist in linguistics”.^[2]
• 1823 – Boiste's dictionary records it, citing Aignan.^[2][3]
• 1826 – Linguistique is first recorded, in Balbi.^[4]
• 1837 – It is used for an interpreter in China.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A linguist, a specialist in linguistique.^[7][3]
2. A person who knows several foreign languages well, or who studies and teaches a foreign language.^[8][4]
3. (historical) An interpreter, especially in 19th-century China.^[2]

Related words

• linguistique
• langue
• Latin lingua
• English linguist

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse