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modalité

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Etymology and origin of the French word modalité

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1546 Rabelais More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Latin modus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French modalité
Romanian modalitate

Pronunciation

  • /mɔ.da.li.te/[1]

Forms

modalité f (plural modalités)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned derivative from French modal (“modal”), with the suffix -ité.[2][3][4][1] The adjective is formed on mode, from Latin modus (“measure, manner”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg date it to Rabelais in 1546, without a reference;[5][6] the TLFi's first dated record is a logic textbook by Champeynac (1607).[6]

Semantic evolution

Like modal, the word took its technical senses one after another: in logic (1607), in philosophy for the property a substance has of having modes (Bayle, 1697), in music (1840), in law (1893) and in linguistics (1898).[7][6] More than modal, it came to be used broadly from about 1890 for a particular form or circumstance in which a fact appears,[7][6] as in Durkheim's modalités possibles de la division du travail (1893);[6] hence the everyday plural modalités “terms, arrangements” of a payment or an agreement.[8][6]

Timeline

  • 1546 – Attributed to Rabelais.[5][2]
  • 1607 – First dated use in logic, by Champeynac.[6]
  • 1697 – Bayle uses it in philosophy, of Spinoza's substance and its modes.[6]
  • 1840 – Recorded in music, for the mode in which a piece is played.[6][7]
  • 1890 – A supplement of the Larousse records the sense “circumstance, particular feature”.[6]
  • 1893 – Durkheim uses it in law, and for a particular form of a fact.[6]
  • 1898 – Used in linguistics.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (philosophy) The property a substance has of having modes; a particular form of a substance.[8][6]
  2. A particular form or manner of an act, fact or thing; in the plural, the practical terms or arrangements: les modalités d'inscription.[8][6][1]
  3. (law) A clause, such as a condition or a term, that alters the effects an act would otherwise have.[6]
  4. (linguistics) The way a speaker's attitude to what is said is marked, by mood, sentence type, adverbs or modal verbs;[6][8] adverbe de modalité, a sentence adverb.[6][8]
  5. (logic) The character of a proposition as necessary, possible, real and so on.[4][6]
  6. (music) The mode a piece is written or played in.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  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 g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
  7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Modalité.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/modalit%C3%A9. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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