moderne

Forms

moderne (plural modernes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin modernus (“recent, current”),^[2][3][4][5] derived from the adverb modo (“just, only, lately, soon after”) on the model of hodiernus (“of today”).^[3][6] The adverb comes from modus (“measure, manner”).^[3][6] Littré notes that the Latin adjective is a late formation, modelled on the adjectives of time for “of today” and hesternus (“of yesterday”).^[6]

The dates differ: the TLFi and Rey find the plural noun moders in the 14th century and the adjective before 1455, while Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert date the word from about 1361, in Oresme.^[2][3][4][7] Compare Spanish moderno and Italian moderno.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the 14th century as moders, a plural noun in the oblique case, in a French version of the falconry and hunting-dog treatises of Moamin and Ghatrif, for the people of recent times as opposed to the Ancients.^[2][3] The adjective “of the present time, current” is found in Chastellain before 1455.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word entered the learned vocabulary of the liberal arts, first as a plural noun opposing recent writers to the Ancients.^[3] By the first half of the 16th century the adjective was used of the present state of a language, as opposed to its older state.^[2][3] It spread in the 17th century, still closely tied to the arts and sciences, at the time of the quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns;^[2][3] Nicot has poètes modernes in 1606, Richelet architecture moderne in 1680, and in 1690 Furetière applies it to an art or science brought to its present state by recent discoveries.^[2][3] The Académie made a feminine noun of it in 1694 for a building in the modern style, a use now dated.^[2][3]

From 1554 the adjective also described a person who was up to date, perhaps at first as a joke on the learned noun, and in 1852 the noun named a fashionable dandy, a use now gone.^[2][3] The masculine noun le moderne, “what is modern, the modern style”, appears in Voltaire in 1756 and was valued more and more highly in the 19th and 20th centuries.^[2][3] Enseignement moderne, secondary teaching based on living languages rather than Latin and Greek, dates from about 1906.^[3][8]

The English word modern (about 1500) comes from French moderne and directly from Late Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• 14th century – The plural noun moders appears in the treatises of Moamin and Ghatrif.^[2][3]
• c. 1361 – Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert date the word from Oresme.^[4][7]
• before 1455 – Chastellain uses the adjective for “of the present time”.^[2][3]
• c. 1500 – English modern is first recorded.^[9]
• 1554 – Noël du Fail applies it to a person who is up to date.^[2]
• 1606 – Nicot records poètes modernes.^[2][3]
• 1680 – Richelet records architecture moderne.^[2][8]
• 1690 – Furetière uses it of an art or science in its latest state.^[2][3]
• 1694 – The Académie records a feminine noun for a modern-style building.^[2][3]
• 1754 – The derivative moderniser is first recorded.^[4][3]
• 1756 – Voltaire uses the noun le moderne.^[2][3]
• 1852 – The noun is used of a fashionable dandy.^[2][3]
• 1906 – Enseignement moderne is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Belonging to the present time or to a fairly recent period; contemporary, current.^[10][11][12]
2. Benefiting from the latest advances of science and technology; up-to-date.^[10][11][12]
3. Made according to present-day techniques and taste, as opposed to old.^[11][12]
4. Of a person: in step with the times, open to the new ideas of the day.^[11][2]
5. (history) Histoire moderne: the history of the period from the Renaissance onwards.^[6][8]
6. Enseignement moderne: secondary teaching based on living languages rather than the classical ones.^[3][8]

Noun

1. A writer or artist of the present period.^[11]
2. (history) In the 17th century, a partisan of modern writers in the quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns.^[11][3]
3. Le moderne: what is modern, the modern style or taste.^[2][3]

Word family

• moderniser
• modernisme
• moderniste
• modernité
• modernement
• modernisation

Related words

• Late Latin modernus
• English modern

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 r s t u 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 j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 6b
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)