morphologie

Forms

morphologie f (plural morphologies)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Morphologie, the term used by Goethe for the study of the outward form and structure of living things.^[2][3][4] The TLF-Étym dates the German word from 1796 and notes that the physician K. F. Burdach spread it from 1800; the DHLF and the Grand Robert date Goethe's coinage to 1790.^[2][3][4] In French it is analysed as morpho- and -logie, from Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form”) and λόγος (lógos, “word, discourse”).^[3][5][6][7]

The TLFi and the DHLF give Blainville's title of 1822 as the first record; the TLF-Étym found the word earlier, in 1809.^[8][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 1809, in a French notice of an article written in German, morphologie pathologique du cerveau, par Burdach (“pathological morphology of the brain, by Burdach”), in the biological sense “study of form and structure”.^[2] The first dictionary to list it is the supplement to the Académie's 6th edition (1840), as “the history of the forms that matter can take”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In French it first named the science of the form and structure of organisms, and for a time also the study of the forms seen in dreams, a sense now lost.^[3] Grammar took it up for the internal structure of words: the TLF-Étym's first record is from 1862, in a report of a paper on Chinese morphology, and Littré listed morphologie des langues in 1868, after the German use from 1858.^[2][8] The concept was refined in the 20th century, after Saussure, in contrast with syntax.^[3]

Morphologie sociale became a term of sociology in 1899, and the Académie gave the geological sense in 1935.^[2][3] From 1906, first in music, the word also names the forms themselves, the shape or structure of a thing.^[2][3] Derivatives include morphologique (1832), morphologiquement (1863), morphologiste (1929) and morphologue (1962).^[3]

Timeline

• 1809 – First French record, in a notice of Burdach's work.^[2]
• 1822 – Blainville uses it in the title of a book on animal organization.^[8][3]
• 1832 – The adjective morphologique appears.^[3]
• 1840 – The Académie's supplement records the word.^[2]
• 1862 – First use in grammar.^[2]
• 1868 – Littré gives the linguistic sense.^[8][2]
• 1899 – Morphologie sociale appears in sociology.^[2]
• 1906 – First use for the form or structure itself.^[2]
• 1935 – The Académie records the geological sense.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (biology) The study of the outward form and structure of living beings and their organs; by extension, of the earth's surface (géomorphologie).^[9][5][8]
2. The outward form or build of an organism: la morphologie d'un nageur.^[9][2]
3. (linguistics) The study of the forms of words and the rules of their internal structure.^[5][9][2]
4. Morphologie sociale: the study of the material forms of social facts, chiefly their geographical and demographic conditions.^[2]

Word family

• morphologique
• morphologiquement
• morphologiste
• morphologue
• morphophonologie

Related words

• géomorphologie
• German Morphologie
• Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ)

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 Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 140a
8. ^ a b c d e f 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
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert