préférable

Forms

préférable (plural préférables)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French préférer + -able.^[2][1][3] The verb, recorded from the 14th century in Bersuire, was borrowed from Latin praeferō (“to carry before, to prefer”).^[4]

The TLFi dates the adjective to 1516, while Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the GLLF give 1587 as its first record.^[2][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Guillaume Michel's 1516 translation of Virgil's Bucolics it already means “deserving to be preferred”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has kept its first sense, “worthy of being chosen over something else”, applied to things and, more rarely, to people.^[2][7] From the early 19th century it entered the impersonal construction il est préférable de … or que …, “it is better to”, first recorded in the conditional, il serait préférable de, in 1821.^[2][3] The GLLF dates this impersonal sense to the early 20th century.^[6]

From it came the adverb préférablement (1654), a literary equivalent of de préférence.^[3]

Timeline

• 1516 – Guillaume Michel uses it in his translation of Virgil's Bucolics.^[2][3]
• 1587 – The date of first record given by Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF.^[4][6]
• 1654 – The adverb préférablement is recorded.^[3]
• 1821 – Il serait préférable de appears in a pharmacy manual.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deserving to be preferred or chosen, because of its qualities or advantages;^[7][2][6] préférable à, better than: le vélo est préférable à la voiture en ville.^[7][2][6]
2. Il est préférable de …, il est préférable que …: it is better to …: il est préférable de réserver.^[6][7]
3. (rare) Of a person, worth preferring to another.^[2]

Word family

• préférablement

Related words

• préférer
• préférence
• Latin praeferō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert