paradigme

Forms

paradigme m (plural paradigmes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin paradigma (“example, comparison”), also a grammarians' term,^[2][3][4] which is from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (parádeigma, “model, example”).^[2][3][1] The Greek noun comes from παραδείκνυμι (paradeíknumi, “to set side by side, show”),^[2][4] from παρά (pará, “beside”) and δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to show”),^[2][3][5] a verb of the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- that also lies behind dire.^[3] The TLFi, the DHLF and the GLLF date the borrowing to 1584 (Thevet);^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give 1561.^[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record in the TLFi is in André Thevet's Vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres (1584), meaning “example, model”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

A learned word, paradigme first meant “model, example”.^[3][2] In grammar it named, from 1752 (the Trévoux dictionary), the word given as a model for a declension or conjugation, and then the set of inflected forms of such a word.^[2][3][4]

In the 20th century the linguists took it up for the set of terms that can stand at one point of the spoken chain, the axis of substitution (1967 in the TLFi, 1943 in the Petit Robert),^[2][3][8] opposed to the syntagm.^[3] In epistemology it came to mean the theoretical framework dominant in a scientific community at a given time,^[3][8] and sociology uses it for a system of values and representations that shapes how people see the world.^[8] The adjective paradigmatique, modelled on Greek paradeigmatikos, was first used by Louis Hjelmslev in 1935.^[3]

Timeline

• 1561 – Earliest date given by Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert dictionaries.^[6][7]
• 1584 – Thevet uses it for an example or model.^[2][3]
• 1752 – The Trévoux dictionary records the grammatical sense.^[2][3]
• 1935 – Hjelmslev uses paradigmatique.^[3]
• 1967 – The structural linguistics sense “set of substitutable terms” is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) A word given as a model for a declension or conjugation: « chanter » sert de paradigme aux verbes du premier groupe.^[8][9][4]
2. (grammar) The set of inflected forms of such a word.^[8][10][2]
3. (linguistics) The set of terms that can be substituted for one another at the same point of an utterance.^[8][10][9]
4. (epistemology) A model of thought, the framework of ideas accepted at a given time: le paradigme newtonien.^[8][9][3]
5. (sociology) A system of representations, values and norms that shapes how the world is perceived.^[8]

Related words

• paradigmatique
• syntagme
• Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (parádeigma)

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)