matérialiser

Forms

matérialiser^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned formation from French matériel + -iser, made to serve as the verb of matériel.^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg take it directly from Late and scholastic Latin māteriālis, made to provide a verb for several senses of matière.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

La Mettrie's L'Homme machine (1748) uses it in the context of materialist philosophy, for reducing something to the domain of matter.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The current sense, to represent something in concrete form, is recorded from 1754 in Formey, the date Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert give for the word itself.^[2][4][5][3] Rousseau (before 1778) uses it for regarding something as material,^[6] and Nerval (before 1854) for making something material or coarse.^[6] The reflexive se matérialiser is first recorded in Boiste in 1823.^[2][4][7]

Spiritualism used it for making a summoned spirit visible, and modern physics for turning energy into matter (before 1934).^[2][4] The sense “to carry out” (a project) is a 20th-century use.^[6]

Timeline

• 1748 – La Mettrie uses it in L'Homme machine, “to reduce to matter”.^[2][4]
• 1754 – Formey uses it for representing something in concrete form.^[2][5]
• Before 1778 – Rousseau uses it for regarding the soul's operations as material.^[6][8]
• 1823 – Boiste records se matérialiser.^[2][7]
• 1832 – The derivative matérialisation appears in Balzac's Louis Lambert.^[4]
• Before 1934 – Used in physics for turning energy into matter.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To regard as material or as produced by matter.^[8][6][9]
2. To give material form to an idea, to embody or symbolize it.^[8][10][11]
3. To carry out, make real: matérialiser un rêve.^[6][8]
4. To mark something visibly on the ground: matérialiser une piste cyclable.^[8]
5. (spiritualism) To make a summoned spirit visible and tangible.^[2]
6. (physics) To turn energy into matter.^[4]
7. (reflexive) Se matérialiser: to take material form, to materialize, come true.^[8][10][1]

Word family

• matérialisation
• matérialisable

Related words

• matériel
• matière
• matérialisme
• matérialiste
• dématérialiser
• Late Latin māteriālis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)