perspective

Forms

perspective f (plural perspectives)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin perspectīva, the feminine of the adjective perspectīvus used as a noun;^[2][3][4][1] Saint Thomas used it for optics and geometrical perspective.^[2][3][4][1] The adjective is from Latin perspectus (“seen clearly”), the past participle of perspiciō (“to look through, perceive”).^[5][6][7] The use of the word in painting is due to Italian prospettiva.^[2][3][5]

Littré compares Old Occitan perspectiva.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

At the end of the 13th century Mahieu le Vilain's translation of Aristotle's Meteorology uses it for the theory of refraction: Car nous savons par perspective que la cause pour quoy telles clartés sont apparans... (“for we know by perspective that the cause why such lights appear...”).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle French the word meant the theory of refraction, the refraction of light rays (1372) and a treatise on optics (1495), a sense recorded until 1636.^[3] Anglo-Norman used it for the science of optics about 1334,^[9] and English took the word in the late 14th century.^[7]

Under the influence of Italian, where the Renaissance distinguished the science of vision from the drawing of space, it became in 1547 the art of representing objects as distance and position make them appear.^[2][3] The 17th century named its kinds: perspective aérienne (1669, replacing perspective aérée, 1651), perspective cavalière (1691).^[2][3] By metonymy it named a painted trompe-l'œil (1551), the look of a group of things seen from a certain angle (about 1584) and of distant objects seen from a given place (1635); from this came “a long straight avenue” (1787), said of the main streets of Saint Petersburg after Russian проспект (prospekt).^[2][3]

The abstract sense, the way one sees a present situation developing in the future, is found in Madame de Sévigné's letters (1676), with avoir en perspective “to have in view” (1688) and “the foreseeable future” (1689); a particular way of seeing or interpreting events follows in 1797.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1270 – Mahieu le Vilain uses it for the theory of refraction.^[2][4]
• 1547 – Jean Martin's Vitruvius uses it for the art of representing depth.^[2]
• 1551 – A perspective peinte is a trompe-l'œil painting.^[2]
• 1635 – Monet records the view of distant objects.^[2]
• 1669 – Perspective aérienne is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1676 – Madame de Sévigné uses it for a view of the future.^[2]
• 1688 – Avoir en perspective “to have in view”.^[2]
• 1691 – Ozanam has perspective cavalière.^[2]
• 1787 – Used of the avenues of Saint Petersburg.^[2][3]
• 1797 – Chateaubriand uses it for a way of interpreting events.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The art of representing objects in three dimensions on a flat surface as the eye sees them: dessiner une rue en perspective;^[6][1] perspective cavalière, a conventional perspective with the viewer at infinity.^[6][1]
2. A view of a group of buildings or a landscape seen from a distance; a long straight avenue, as in Saint Petersburg.^[6]
3. A prospect, an event that is likely or possible: La perspective d'un long voyage l'enchantait.^[6][1]
4. En perspective: in view, in the future: Elle a une promotion en perspective.^[6][2]
5. A point of view, a way of looking at something;^[6][1] mettre en perspective, to set something in its context.^[6][1]

Related words

• perspectif
• perspectivisme
• Latin perspiciō
• English perspective

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 r s 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)