proportionnel

Forms

proportionnel (feminine proportionnelle, masculine plural proportionnels, feminine plural proportionnelles)^[1] Middle French proporcionel (Oresme) and proporcional (14th century); the present spelling is dated 1487.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin proportiōnālis (“proportionate, proportional”),^[5][6][3] from proportiō (“proportion, ratio”).^[3][7][2] Wiktionary instead analyses it as a French formation from proportion with the suffix -el.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nicole Oresme first uses it in his translation of Aristotle's Ethics (1370–1372) for what stands in a relation of proportion to another thing of the same kind.^[5][6] Littré quotes his line Doncques chose juste est proporcionel (“so what is just is proportional”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the general sense of being in proportion with something else, the adjective became a term of mathematics, with moyenne proportionnelle “mean proportional” recorded by Fermat in 1638 and by Furetière in 1690;^[5][6][7] the feminine was used as a noun, la proportionnelle, from 1718.^[6]

In the 19th century it passed into administration and politics: impôt proportionnel, a tax levied at a fixed rate, in 1833, and représentation proportionnelle in 1839.^[5][6] From 1923 la proportionnelle also names proportional representation in elections.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1370–1372 – Oresme uses proporcionel in his Éthiques.^[5][2]
• 1487 – The spelling proportionnel is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1638 – Moyennes proportionnelles appears in a letter of Fermat to Mersenne.^[5]
• 1718 – The feminine is used as a noun in mathematics.^[6]
• 1833 – First record of impôt proportionnel.^[5][6]
• 1839 – First record of représentation proportionnelle.^[5][6]
• 1923 – La proportionnelle is used of proportional representation.^[6][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (mathematics, sciences) proportional: of quantities that stay in a constant ratio to each other;^[4][5] inversement proportionnel à, inversely proportional to.^[4][5]
2. In proportion to something, varying with it: une aide proportionnelle aux revenus, aid in proportion to income.^[5][4]
3. Impôt proportionnel: a tax levied at a constant rate, unlike a progressive tax.^[5][7]
4. Représentation proportionnelle: an electoral system giving each list a number of seats in proportion to its votes.^[5][6]

Noun

1. (feminine) La proportionnelle: proportional representation.^[6][7]
2. (mathematics, feminine) A proportional term: moyenne proportionnelle, the mean proportional.^[2][6]

Word family

• proportionnellement
• disproportionnel
• proportionnalisme

Related words

• proportion
• proportionner
• proportionné
• Latin proportiōnālis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse