pratique

Forms

pratique (plural pratiques)^[1] Middle French practique.^[1][2]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Late Latin practicē (“active life, conduct”), the Christian Latin word for the active life as opposed to contemplation.^[2][3][4][5] That is from Ancient Greek πρακτική (praktikḗ), the feminine of the adjective πρακτικός (praktikós, “fit for action, effective”) used as a noun (with τέχνη (tékhnē) understood), which Plato opposed to the speculative sciences.^[3][4] The Greek adjective is formed on πράσσω (prássō, “to do, accomplish”).^[3][6] In scholastic and legal Medieval Latin the noun was usual as practica.^[4][1]

The adjective, recorded from about 1370, is borrowed from Late Latin practicus (“active”),^[5][7][8] a word that Bloch and Wartburg call rare in Late Latin and that came through Medieval Latin.^[4] Its senses developed alongside those of the noun.^[4]

Littré compares Old Occitan pratica, Italian pratica and Spanish práctica, and for the adjective Italian pratico.^[6] Pragmatique belongs to the same Greek family.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1256 Aldebrandin of Siena's Régime du corps uses pratique for the application of rules and principles, as opposed to theory.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century the noun was set against théorie, also in phrases such as mettre en pratique “to apply” (1588, Montaigne), dans la pratique (1656) and en pratique.^[3][2] From the end of the 14th century it named the concrete exercise of a profession or an art, and the experience a person had of a trade.^[3][2] In law it meant procedure (14th century) and later (1680) the papers in a lawyer's office, and gens de pratique (about 1465) were people of the law: these uses are now gone.^[3][2] So are the sense “cunning, artifice” (about 1380) and the sense “plot, intrigue” (1474) that came from it, while “a habitual way of doing things” (about 1465) is still alive, with “experience” (1530).^[3]

In the plural it named political dealings (1470) and later (1681) the outward acts of religion.^[2][3] By metonymy it meant habitual dealings with someone (1580) and then buying regularly from a merchant (1588, Montaigne), and in 1670 the customers themselves.^[3][4][2] At sea it is the leave to land and trade (1609),^[2][9] and in 1731 it became the puppeteer's whistle that gives Punch his shrill voice.^[2][8] In Quebec it also means a rehearsal, under the influence of English practice.^[3]

The adjective was first used by Oresme about 1370, of what concerns action rather than theory.^[7][4] The sense “belonging to everyday life” is dated by the GLLF to before 1880 (Flaubert), and travaux pratiques to 1962.^[7] It now also means “handy, convenient”.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 1256 – Aldebrandin of Siena uses the noun.^[2][3][4]
• c. 1370 – Oresme uses the adjective.^[7][4]
• End of the 14th century – Eustache Deschamps uses it for experience in a trade.^[2]
• 1441 – Cour de pratique “jurisdiction” in the Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris.^[2]
• c. 1465 – Gens de pratique “people of the law”, and the sense “way of acting”.^[2][3]
• 1470 – The plural is used of political dealings in letters of Louis XI.^[2]
• 1524 – Gringore uses it for a clientele.^[2]
• 1588 – Mettre en pratique in Montaigne.^[2][3]
• 1609 – The maritime sense, leave to land, in Beaulieu-Persac.^[2][9]
• 1681 – Bossuet uses it for the outward acts of worship.^[2]
• 1731 – Sifflet-pratique, the puppeteer's whistle.^[2]
• 1826 – Slang use for a debauched man.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Practice, as opposed to theory: activity aimed at concrete results.^[10][8][2]
2. En pratique, dans la pratique: in fact, in practice.^[10][8]
3. The exercise of an activity, a craft or a profession: la pratique du violon.^[10][8][1]
4. Knowledge or skill gained by experience.^[8][3]
5. A habitual way of acting; a custom of a group.^[8][1][3]
6. (in the plural) Religious observances.^[2][3]
7. (dated) Custom, clientèle; a client.^[8][4]
8. (theatre) A small tin whistle that puppeteers put in the mouth to give Punch a shrill voice.^[8][2]
9. (nautical) Leave for a ship's crew to land and trade.^[2][9]
10. (Quebec) A rehearsal.^[3]

Adjective

1. Concerned with action or application rather than theory; practical: des exercices pratiques.^[8][10][1]
2. Concerned with material, everyday life.^[10][1]
3. (of a person) Having a sense of reality, good at handling concrete problems.^[8]
4. (philosophy) Governing conduct, as in Kant's raison pratique.^[10]
5. Handy, convenient.^[8][1]

Word family

• praticité
• pratiquement
• praticien
• pratiquer

Related words

• pragmatique
• Ancient Greek πρακτικός (praktikós)

Usage notes

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give the noun and the adjective as two numbered headwords, pratique 1 and pratique 2, because the noun comes from Latin practicē and the adjective from practicus.^[5][10] Littré numbers three.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 t u v w x y 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 o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert