modernisme

Forms

modernisme m (plural modernismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French moderne + -isme.^[2][3][1] The Petit Robert derives it instead from moderniste, recorded from 1769.^[4][5] The adjective is from Late Latin modernus, from the Latin adverb modo (“recently”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Huysmans used it in 1879, in his review of that year's Salon in L'Art moderne, for a taste or mania for what is modern; a single earlier use is known from 1845.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense carried a critical tone: a craze for novelty.^[6][2] Bloch and Wartburg date the word to 1883 and the GLLF to 1889.^[5][7][8]

In religion it named, from 1908, the movement of Catholic theologians at the turn of the 20th century who sought to bring theology, exegesis and Church doctrine into line with modern thought, condemned by Pius X; the GLLF dates this sense to the 1907 Larousse.^[2][6][7] From 1931 it has also meant simply the quality of being modern, as a synonym of modernité.^[2][6][8]

Timeline

• 1845 – An isolated first use.^[3][6]
• 1879 – Huysmans uses it for a taste for what is modern.^[2][6]
• 1908 – Barbier applies it to the religious movement.^[2]
• 1931 – Larousse records the sense “modern character”.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A taste or preference for what is modern, sometimes at any price.^[4][2]
2. (religion) Modernism, the movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that sought to reinterpret Christian, chiefly Catholic, doctrine in the light of modern scholarship.^[4][7][2]
3. The quality of being modern, modernité.^[2]

Related words

• moderne
• moderniste
• moderniser
• modernité
• traditionalisme

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF