numérique

Forms

numérique (plural numériques)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned derivative, from Latin numerus (“number”) with the suffix -ique.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is also the source of the inherited nombre.^[1][2]

The electronic sense “digital” is a semantic loan from the English word digital, which French has also borrowed directly.^[1] The derived verb numériser was likewise coined as a French replacement for digitaliser.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1616, in the sermons of Father Coton, meaning “having to do with numbers, belonging to numbers”.^[2][5] The GLLF dates the same text to 1617.^[6]

Semantic evolution

For a long time the word belonged mainly to mathematics: extraction numérique is found in the Encyclopédie in 1756 and tableaux numériques “tables of figures” in Littré in 1868.^[2][5] The sense “counted, assessed in numbers” is recorded from 1765,^[5] and in medicine the méthode numérique was the practice of stating clinical observations in figures.^[7]

In the 20th century it passed into computing.^[5] The GLLF dates the sense used of a calculating machine to Larousse in 1968,^[6] and the modern sense “digital”, as opposed to analogique, came by imitation of English digital.^[1][8] It now also serves as a noun, le numérique, for digital technology as a whole.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1616 – First record, in the sermons of Father Coton.^[2][3]
• 1697 – The adverb numériquement is first recorded.^[5]
• 1756 – Extraction numérique appears in the Encyclopédie.^[2]
• 1765 – First recorded in the sense “assessed in numbers”.^[5]
• 1868 – Littré records tableaux numériques.^[2][6]
• 1968 – Larousse records the computing sense.^[6]
• c. 1970 – The verb numériser “to digitize” is formed.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to numbers, or done with numbers: calcul numérique “numerical calculation”.^[8][2]
2. Expressed or assessed in numbers, numerical: une supériorité numérique.^[8][6]
3. (technology) Digital: representing data or quantities by numbers, as opposed to analogique: un appareil photo numérique.^[8][9]
4. Fracture numérique: the digital divide.^[8]

Noun

1. Le numérique: digital technology as a whole.^[8][9]

Word family

• numériser
• numériquement

Related words

• nombre
• numéro
• numéral
• Latin numerus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)