lucide

Forms

lucide (plural lucides)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lūcidus (“clear, bright, shining”), which meant also “clear, evident”, from lūx (“light”).^[2][3][4] Littré connects it with lūceō (“to shine”).^[5] Rey traces the Latin noun to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“to shine”), also behind luire and lumière.^[3] The French phrase for the clear periods of the insane follows Medieval Latin lucida intervalla.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in 1478 in the French Guidon of Guy de Chauliac, is in humeur etheree lucide, in the sense “luminous”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense “bright, shining” faded; about 1560 Paré used it of tissue that lets light through.^[3][4][5] The figurative sense comes before 1690, when Furetière notes intervalles lucides (the clear periods of the insane) as a phrase of the law courts;^[3][2] from it grew the medical use, about 1848, opposed to “delirious”.^[3][2] Of language and reasoning it means “clear” from the 1780s (Féraud, 1787),^[2][4] and of a person who sees and judges things clearly from Stendhal (1825).^[2] In the vocabulary of animal magnetism a somnambule lucide (Balzac, 1832) was one thought to have clairvoyance.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1478 – First recorded, meaning “luminous”.^[2][3]
• 1690 – Furetière records intervalles lucides.^[2][3]
• 1787 – Féraud records it of clear reasoning and language.^[2][4]
• 1825 – Stendhal uses it of a person who sees clearly.^[2]
• 1832 – Balzac writes of a somnambule lucide.^[2]
• 1848 – It is used of a patient between bouts of delirium.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated or poetic) Bright, luminous, clear.^[6][2]
2. In full possession of one's reason, conscious: intervalles lucides, moments lucides.^[6][2]
3. Seeing and judging things clearly, clear-sighted: un esprit lucide.^[6][5]
4. (of language, ideas) Clear and easy to follow.^[2][5]

Word family

• lucidité
• lucidement

Related words

• luire
• lumière
• translucide
• Latin lūcidus

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 n o p q 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. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert