mobilisation

Forms

mobilisation f (plural mobilisations)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French mobiliser + -ation.^[2][1][3] The verb mobiliser (1765, a legal term) is itself derived from mobile with the suffix -iser,^[2][4] the adjective being a borrowing of Latin mōbilis, of the family of moveō (“to move”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux in 1771 as a legal term: the act of declaring movable property that the law treats as immovable.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the senses of mobiliser.^[6] From the legal sense it passed into finance, for making capital or a claim available again (1843, Proudhon).^[2][6] In 1834 Landais records the military sense, putting an army on a war footing, which became the usual meaning.^[2][6] A poster signed by Raymond Poincaré in August 1914 declared la mobilisation n'est pas la guerre, a sentence later quoted as an example of reassuring political language.^[6]

From the military sense came figurative uses: gathering moral energies and forces (1893, Durkheim) and calling on the members of a group (1913, Barrès).^[2] In the early 20th century it also became a term of physiology and medicine, for moving a limb or joint (1903), and later of surgery (1963).^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1771 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the legal sense.^[2][3]
• 1834 – Landais records the military sense.^[2]
• 1843 – Proudhon writes of the mobilisation des capitaux.^[2]
• 1893 – Durkheim uses it of gathering moral energies.^[2]
• 1903 – It appears in physiology and medicine.^[2]
• 1913 – Barrès uses it of calling on the members of a group.^[2]
• 1914 – Poincaré's poster: la mobilisation n'est pas la guerre.^[6]
• 1963 – The surgical sense is recorded by the Larousse encyclopédique.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) The putting of an army or of a country's armed forces on a war footing, with the call-up of those liable to serve: décréter la mobilisation générale.^[7][8][9]
2. The gathering and setting in motion of people, resources or energies for a common aim: la mobilisation des syndicats, la mobilisation des ressources.^[8][9][2]
3. (finance) The operation by which the holder of an asset or a claim regains the use of the funds it ties up: la mobilisation d'une créance.^[7][9]
4. (law) The act of treating immovable property as movable; also called ameublissement.^[2][5]
5. (medicine) The act of moving a limb or a joint.^[9][2]

Related words

• mobiliser
• mobile
• démobilisation
• Latin mōbilis

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)