prolifération

Forms

prolifération f (plural proliférations)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French proliférer + -ation, according to the TLFi.^[2][1] The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Littré instead derive it from the adjective prolifère.^[3][4][5] Rey notes that the verb is recorded only from 1859, later than the noun, but was probably in use earlier.^[6]

The adjective was coined in botany in 1766 from proli-, taken from Latin prōlēs (“offspring, lineage”), and -fère “bearing”, from ferō (“to carry”).^[2][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1842, in the Complément of the Académie dictionary, as a term of botany: the growth of a bud or of an extra organ on a part of a plant that does not usually bear one.^[2][8][4]

Semantic evolution

Littré records it in 1869 in biology, for the multiplication of cells, as in the growth of epithelial cells.^[2][5] The sense of a rapid increase in living beings in general is found in Cendrars in 1949.^[2]

By analogy it came to mean any rapid and disorderly multiplication: Valéry wrote in 1926 of a proliferation of objects of thought.^[2][6] From the 1960s it was used above all of dangerous agents and weapons, and la prolifération des armes atomiques appears in Le Figaro in 1963;^[2][6] the negative non-prolifération (1966) names the limiting of nuclear arms, as in traité de non-prolifération.^[6]

Timeline

• 1842 – First recorded, as a botanical term, in the Complément of the Académie dictionary.^[2][8]
• 1859 – The verb proliférer is recorded.^[2][6]
• 1869 – Littré records the biological sense, of the multiplication of cells.^[2][5]
• 1926 – Valéry uses it of a rapid, disorderly multiplication.^[2][6]
• 1949 – Cendrars uses it of a rapid increase of living beings.^[2]
• 1963 – Le Figaro writes of the proliferation of atomic weapons.^[2]
• 1966 – Non-prolifération is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (biology) The rapid multiplication of cells, bacteria or tissues, normal or pathological; also the mass of tissue so produced.^[2][4][9]
2. (botany) The growth of an extra bud or organ on a part of a plant that does not normally bear one.^[8][4][9]
3. A rapid increase in the number of living beings: une prolifération de moustiques.^[4][9]
4. (figurative) A rapid, often uncontrolled spread or increase of things: la prolifération des armes nucléaires.^[10][4][8]

Word family

• non-prolifération

Related words

• proliférer
• prolifère
• prolifique
• prolétaire
• Latin prōlēs

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)