perméabilité

Forms

perméabilité f (plural perméabilités)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned derivative from French perméable + -ité.^[2][3][4] The adjective is from Late Latin permeābilis, from permeō (“to pass through”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Béguin's Éléments de chimie (1620) uses it for the quality of something that flows easily.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, the property of a body that lets a fluid pass through it, appears in physics in the 18th century: the TLFi dates it from Nollet in 1755, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert from 1743.^[2][6][7] It later spread to building, psychology and the earth sciences.^[4] Perméabilité magnétique is recorded in 1887;^[4][7] the GLLF dates this sense from the Larousse of 1888, and the BHVF cites a record of 1890.^[3][8] In naval architecture it names the share of a compartment's volume that water can fill (1903).^[3] Figuratively it is the readiness to be penetrated by outside influences.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 1620 – First record, in Jean Béguin, meaning “the quality of flowing easily”.^[2]
• 1743 – The modern sense “property of being permeable” is recorded.^[6][7]
• 1755 – Nollet uses it in physics of what lets a fluid pass through.^[2][4]
• 1887 – Perméabilité magnétique appears.^[4][7]
• 1903 – The Larousse records the naval sense.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Permeability, the property of a body that lets liquids or gases pass through it: la perméabilité d'une argile.^[2][7]
2. (biology) The capacity of a membrane or cell to let substances through: perméabilité sélective.^[2][7]
3. (physics) Perméabilité magnétique: the property of a medium of letting a magnetic flux through it, measured against a vacuum.^[7][3]
4. (figurative) Openness to outside influences.^[7][4]

Related words

• perméable
• imperméabilité
• Latin permeābilis

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF