Etymologically
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particulier

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /paʁ.ti.ky.lje/[1]

Forms

particulier (feminine particulière, masculine plural particuliers, feminine plural particulières)[1] Particuler (1265), particulier; feminine particulere, particulière (Académie from 1740).[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin particulāris (“of a part, partial”),[3][4][5][6] a word rare before Late Latin and opposed to “universalis” (see universel), from Latin particula (“small part”) (see particule), diminutive of pars (“part”).[4][2]

Compare Old Occitan particular, Spanish particular and Italian particolare.[7] The Anglo-Norman “particuler” corresponds to English particular.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Brunetto Latini's Trésor (about 1265) has sciences particuleres;[3] Jean de Meun (1269–1278) has les particulieres choses and li san particulier, the five senses, as opposed to the common sense that combines their data.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the start it meant what is limited to a part or a detail, and the noun le particulier “the detail” (before 1473, Pascal, 1652) was more used in classical French than today, except in en particulier.[3][4] At the end of the 13th century it described what concerns one individual (intérêts particuliers, Montaigne, 1570, profit particulier, 1580), before individuel existed, whence en particulier “in private” (1538) and hôtel particulier, leçons particulières.[3][4][9]

About 1265 it also meant what distinguishes a thing from others, and in 1549 “odd, peculiar”, Molière (1666) uses it for “exceptional”.[3][4] The sense “selfish” (Eustache Deschamps) has gone.[3][4][7] As a noun un particulier is a private person (late 15th century), in classical French often pejorative “a fellow” (1690), and une particulière was a prostitute (1649).[4][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1265 – Sciences particuleres in Brunetto Latini.[3]
  • 1269–1278 – In Jean de Meun.[3]
  • 1314 – Particulerement.[4]
  • c. 1360 – En particulier “expressly”.[3]
  • Late 15th century – Un particulier “a private person”.[3]
  • 1538 – En particulier “in private”.[3]
  • 1549 – “Odd, peculiar”.[3]
  • 1689 – Particularisme.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Particular, specific (to): un trait particulier, particulier à.[9][1]
  2. Private, individual: hôtel particulier, leçons particulières, secrétaire particulier.[9][10]
  3. Special, unusual: une attention particulière, rien de particulier.[9][3]
  4. Peculiar, odd: des mœurs particulières.[1][10]
  5. En particulier: in particular, especially; in private.[11][3]

Noun

  1. A private individual: vendre de particulier à particulier, (familiar) a fellow, character.[11][1]
  2. The particular, as opposed to the general.[11][4]

Word family

  • particulariser
  • particularisme
  • particulièrement
  • particularité

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 677b
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)