propriété

Forms

propriété f (plural propriétés)^[1] Old French proprieté.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin proprietās (“peculiar nature, ownership”), a legal word that meant “a thing's own, specific character” and, in imperial times, “right of possession” and “thing owned”.^[3][4][5] The noun is from Latin proprius (“one's own”), the source of propre.^[4][5] Bloch and Wartburg take the ownership sense from the Latin of law and the sense “quality” from the Latin of philosophy.^[6] Wiktionary compares propreté.^[1]

Compare Italian proprietà.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Saint Thomas (1174–1176), meaning “the right by which a thing belongs to someone” and the thing owned: Ainz qu'il eüst saisine de sa proprieté “before he had seisin of his property”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, the right to use, enjoy and dispose of a thing, came first, with the metonymic sense “thing owned”, extended in 1770 to a person one disposes of at will.^[4][7] In Middle French it was specialised for landed property (1472), whence its use for farms and estates and, more commonly, a fine house with a garden or park.^[3][4] Its use for intangible goods (propriété artistique, 1842) was debated by lawyers but became usual;^[4] the Académie recorded propriété artistique et littéraire in 1842 and Bescherelle propriété industrielle in 1845.^[7] By about 1825 the word could stand for landowners as a class, divided into grande and petite propriété (1869).^[4][7]

The abstract Latin sense, “a thing's own, specific quality”, was taken up in Old French about 1265 by Brunetto Latini and passed into mathematics and chemistry.^[3][4] A new borrowing gave the literary sense “the exactness of a word for the idea” (1576, Bodin).^[3][4] Fénelon used it before 1715 for the state of a soul attached to its own interest.^[3]

Timeline

• 1174–1176 – Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it for ownership and the thing owned.^[3]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini's Trésor uses it for a thing's own quality.^[3][4]
• 1472 – It names landed property.^[3][4]
• 1576 – Bodin uses it for the exactness of a word.^[3]
• 1690 – En pleine propriété is recorded by Furetière.^[7]
• 1767 – The derivative copropriété appears.^[4]
• 1842 – Propriété artistique et littéraire in the Académie's dictionary.^[7]
• 1845 – Propriété industrielle in Bescherelle.^[7]
• c. 1965 – Multipropriété (timeshare) appears.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Ownership; the right to use, enjoy and dispose of a thing exclusively, within the limits set by law.^[8][9][3] Ils rêvent d'accéder à la propriété.^[8][9]
2. A thing owned, especially land or a building; an estate, a large house with grounds.^[9][3][4] Propriété privée (private property, also as a sign forbidding entry).^[4]
3. (collective) Landowners as a class: la grande propriété, la petite propriété.^[4][7]
4. A property, a quality proper to a thing that distinguishes it from others: les propriétés chimiques du cuivre.^[9][2][1]
5. Exactness of a word for the idea it expresses.^[9][3]
6. (law) Rights over intangible goods: propriété littéraire et artistique, propriété industrielle, propriété commerciale.^[7][8]

Word family

• copropriété
• multipropriété

Related words

• propriétaire
• propre
• impropriété
• propreté
• Latin proprietās
• English property

Usage notes

Impropriété, the opposite for incorrect wording, is a separate borrowing (1488) of Late Latin improprietas.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)