nutriment

Forms

nutriment m (plural nutriments)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nūtrīmentum (“nourishment, food”), from nūtriō (“to feed, nourish”).^[2][1][3][4] The same Latin verb gave the inherited nourrir.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 14th century, in a translation of Hayton's Fleur des histoires, with the Latin sense “food, nourishment”.^[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The Middle French sense “food” lasted into the 16th century; the dictionary of Trévoux recorded it in 1752 with a reference to Marot, and it now survives only as an old literary word.^[2][5]

The word was taken up again in physiology in the 1850s for a food substance that the body can absorb directly and wholly, without digestion: Lucien Corvisart's study of aliments and nutriments dates from 1854,^[2] and the Grand Robert and the DHLF give 1855.^[3][5] Littré still called it a recently introduced word, for substances that could feed without passing through the stomach.^[4]

Timeline

• 1300s – First recorded with the sense “food”.^[2][6][5]
• 1752 – The dictionary of Trévoux records it, with a reference to Marot.^[2]
• 1854 – Corvisart uses it for directly assimilable food substances.^[2]
• 1868 – Littré records the modern sense.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (technical) A nutrient, a food substance that the body can absorb directly and wholly, which can be given by intravenous injection.^[2][7][6]
2. (dated, literary) Food, nourishment.^[2]

Related words

• nourrir
• nutrition
• nutritif
• Latin nūtrīmentum

References

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