périodique

Forms

périodique (plural périodiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin periodicus (“recurring at fixed times”), the Latin of the imperial period (used by Pliny of fevers), which is from Ancient Greek περιοδικός (periodikós, “recurring at fixed times, rounded in periods”).^[2][3][4][5] The Greek adjective is formed on περίοδος (períodos), the source of période.^[4][6][3] The TLFi notes that only its medical sense seems to have come through Latin, and Bloch and Wartburg that the Latin word did not have the sense of recurring in a set period.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Physicians brought it into French: in the Somme Maître Gautier (1398, a manuscript of the 15th century in the TLFi), a dolor de chef periodique is a headache that returns in attacks at regular intervals.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

From illnesses and pains that return at regular intervals the word was applied in particular to women's periods, hence, in the 20th century, serviette périodique and garnitures périodiques for sanitary towels (1910).^[3][5] Beside période it entered the language of science: in astronomy (1634) for a motion completed in a set time, and in physics (1671).^[2][3] In rhetoric (1671) it meant written in rounded periods.^[2][4]

From 1749 (Buffon) it qualified anything that recurs at regular times.^[2][5] A livre périodique or ouvrage périodique is recorded in 1721 (Trévoux), and the noun un périodique, a magazine or journal, in 1752.^[2][5][3] In the 19th century came fraction périodique in arithmetic (1808 in the TLFi, 1838 in the DHLF) and Mendeleev's classification périodique of the elements (1867).^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1398 – The Somme Maître Gautier uses it of a recurring headache.^[4][3]
• 1611 – The adverb périodiquement appears.^[3]
• 1634 – It is used in astronomy.^[2][3]
• 1665 – Périodicité is recorded.^[3]
• 1671 – Pomey uses it in rhetoric.^[2]
• 1721 – Trévoux records ouvrage périodique.^[2]
• 1749 – Buffon uses it for what recurs at regular times.^[2]
• 1752 – Un périodique is used as a noun for a publication.^[5][3]
• 1808 – Fraction périodique appears in Lagrange.^[2]
• 1867 – The classification périodique of the elements.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Recurring at fixed times or regular intervals, periodic, cyclical.^[2][5]
2. Of a publication: appearing at regular intervals: presse périodique.^[5][3]
3. (mathematics) Fraction périodique: a recurring decimal.^[6][2]
4. (chemistry) Classification périodique: the periodic table of the elements.^[3]
5. Of sanitary products worn during menstruation: serviette périodique.^[5][3]
6. (rhetoric) Written in periods, in long rounded sentences.^[2][4]

Noun

1. A periodical, a magazine or journal that appears at regular intervals.^[5][2]

Word family

• périodiquement
• périodicité
• apériodique

Related words

• période
• Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos)

References

1. ^ 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 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 g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France