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photographie

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Etymology and origin of the French word photographie

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1832 Raymond More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek φῶς,γράφω
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French photographie
Romanian fotografie
Derivations
From the same root
Dutch foto ← photographie

Pronunciation

  • /fɔ.tɔ.ɡʁa.fi/[1]

Forms

photographie f (plural photographies)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French photo- + -graphie, from Greek elements: Ancient Greek φῶς (phôs, “light”) (genitive φωτός (phōtós)) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write, draw”), so that it means literally “light-writing”.[2][3][1][4] Rey points out that the second element here has the broad sense of a material record, as in géographie.[3]

For the photographic sense the TLFi compares German Photographie (25 February 1839) and the English word photography, introduced by John Herschel in March 1839.[2] The DHLF dates Herschel's coinage to 1836 and notes that the French word was long taken to be a translation of it, although it had already been used in French in 1834.[3] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert still describe the French word as modelled on English.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Raymond's dictionary of 1832, in the sense, now lost, of the branch of natural history or physics dealing with light;[2][3] the Grand Robert and the GLLF date Raymond's entry to 1835.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

On 21 January 1834 Hercule Florence used it in his notebooks for a technique of reproducing images by the chemical action of light and optical means.[2][3] Historians of photography usually date the word from the report to the Chamber of Deputies of 3 July 1839, which the TLFi attributes to Arago and the DHLF to Daguerre.[2][3] Niépce had already fixed camera images on paper in 1816 and made the first photograph on glass, with bitumen of Judea, in 1822.[3]

By metonymy une photographie came to mean an image obtained by photography (1854), a sense more and more taken over by the shortening photo (1864), which also covers the technique and the art.[2][3] Through the 19th century the word covered the daguerreotype as well as photographs on paper, glass and other surfaces, and photography soon claimed the status of an art, which Baudelaire disputed.[3][4] The art of the professional or amateur photographer is recorded from 1857 (Delacroix).[4]

English had photography from 1839.[7]

Timeline

  • 1832 – Raymond's dictionary uses it for the study of light.[2]
  • 1834 – Hercule Florence uses it for a technique of fixing images with light.[2][3]
  • 1839 – German Photographie (February) and English photography (March) are recorded.[2]
  • 1839 – It is used in the report of 3 July to the Chamber of Deputies.[2][3]
  • 1854 – It means a photographic print, in Salzmann's work on Jerusalem.[2][3]
  • 1857 – Delacroix uses it for the art of the photographer.[4]
  • 1864 – The shortening photo is recorded.[3]
  • 1980s – The figurative y a pas photo “there's no contest” spreads from horse racing.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (uncountable) photography: the techniques for obtaining lasting images by the action of light on a sensitive surface;[6][2][1] photographie numérique, photographie argentique.[6][2][1]
  2. (uncountable) The technique and art of taking pictures, as a profession or a hobby.[6][4]
  3. (countable) A photograph, an image obtained in this way: une photographie de mariage “a wedding photograph”.[6][2][1]
  4. (figurative) A faithful picture or description of something.[4]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Photographie.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/photographie. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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