organisme

Forms

organisme m (plural organismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French organe + -isme.^[2][3][1] Littré derives it from organiser instead.^[4] The base noun was borrowed from Latin organum, from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon, “instrument”), which also meant a musical instrument and a bodily organ.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bourguet's Lettres philosophiques (1729) use it for a living being, with or without organs.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare until the 19th century; the Encyclopédie does not have it.^[7][6] From 1802 it means the whole set of organs that make up a living being, a key idea in the new biology of functional wholes.^[2][6] In 1842 it was extended to an organized whole in politics or economics,^[2][6] from which comes the modern sense of an organization or official body.^[3] The compound micro-organisme (1876) gradually replaced microbe during the 20th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1729 – Bourguet uses it for a living being.^[2]
• 1802 – Flick's French–German dictionary records the sense “set of organs of a living being”.^[2]
• 1842 – Mozin and Biber record the sense “organized whole” in economics and politics.^[2]
• 1846 – The derivative organicisme appears.^[6]
• 1876 – Micro-organisme is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The set of organs that make up a living being; the human body: un organisme fatigué.^[3][2]
2. A living being, an organism: un organisme pluricellulaire.^[3][1]
3. An organized whole whose parts work together.^[3][2]
4. An organization or body, especially an administrative or official one.^[3][1]

Word family

• superorganisme
• micro-organisme
• organicisme

Related words

• organique
• organe
• organiser
• Latin organum

References

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