manipulation

Forms

manipulation f (plural manipulations)^[1]

Etymology

In its first use (1716), for the treatment of ore, it is borrowed from Spanish manipulación, a word of the Spanish miners in America, recorded there in 1760 but probably older, since it is found as a term of alchemy in 1619; the Spanish word goes back to Latin manipulus (“handful”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The later senses, from 1762 on, are, despite the dates, formed from French manipuler + -ation.^[2][3][1][7] The verb (1765) comes from manipule, a pharmacy term for a handful (16th century), from the same Latin word, which is formed on manus (“hand”).^[8]

The English word manipulation (“intrigue”) is recorded from 1628.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1716, in Frézier's Voyage de la mer du Sud, in manipulation du minerai, the treatment of silver ore to extract the metal.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1762 the Académie defined it as a way of working in chemistry and several crafts, the sense of handling substances and apparatus.^[2][4] The figurative sense of a hidden manoeuvre or intrigue appears in 1767, in Linguet,^[2][3] and Sainte-Beuve wrote in 1852 of un art de manipulation humaine et de corruption consommée “an art of manipulating people and of consummate corruption”.^[2]

Larousse recorded in 1873 the school exercise in which pupils carry out experiments themselves,^[6] and school jargon shortened the word to manip in 1880.^[3][5] In 1931 it became a term of conjurers.^[2][3] After 1968 it spread in the criticism of ideologies, for the hidden control of a group or of opinion.^[3]

Timeline

• 1716 – Frézier uses manipulation du minerai for the treatment of silver ore.^[2]
• 1762 – The Académie records it for working methods in chemistry.^[2]
• 1767 – Linguet uses it figuratively.^[2][3]
• 1873 – Larousse records the school laboratory exercise.^[6]
• 1880 – The school abbreviation manip appears.^[3][5]
• 1931 – Larousse records the conjuring sense.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The handling of substances, products or apparatus; a way of handling them.^[5][9][2]
2. A laboratory experiment, especially one done by students as an exercise.^[5][2]
3. (medicine) A manual manoeuvre that moves certain joints by moderate pressure or stretching, as in manipulations vertébrales.^[5]
4. The branch of conjuring that relies on the skill of the hands alone.^[5][9]
5. (figurative, pejorative) A dishonest manoeuvre, as with figures or data; hidden control exercised over a group or a person, as in manipulation de l'opinion.^[5][9]

Word family

• manip

Related words

• manipuler
• manipulateur
• manipule
• Latin manipulus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)