psychique

Forms

psychique (plural psychiques)^[1]

Etymology

It was first borrowed from Late Latin psychicus, the Christian Latin word whose plural, meaning “the carnal, the materialists”, was the name Tertullian and the Montanists gave to the Catholics, in contrast to the spiritual; the term was later rendered by Latin animālis.^[2][3][4] The Latin word goes back to Ancient Greek ψυχικός (psukhikós, “of the breath or life, of the soul”), derived from ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”).^[2][3][5][1] The Gnostics, as St Paul, Irenaeus and Plotinus report, divided humankind into three classes: the spiritual, those with a soul but no spirit, who could still be saved by teaching, and the purely material; the plural of the Greek adjective named the middle class.^[2][3]

The modern sense, relating to the soul (1819), is a separate, later borrowing, taken straight from the Greek adjective;^[2] Rey thinks it was probably prompted by German.^[3] The word belongs to the learned family of the Greek word for “soul”, beside psychologie and psychose.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1557 Dupuyherbault's De penitence uses psychiques as a noun for people attached to matter, “materialists”: ces arrogants Psychiques avecq leurs progeniteurs nient et mesprisent tout (“these arrogant psychics with their forebears deny and despise everything”).^[2] In 1605 Pierre Le Loyer recalls that Catholics had been called psychiques.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The religious noun lived on until the 17th century.^[3] In 1721 the Dictionnaire de Trévoux has the adjective in the sense “animal, vital”, as in fluide psychique, a sense that has since died out.^[2][7][3]

The modern adjective appears in Boiste's dictionary in 1819, meaning “relating to the soul”, and by 1837 Balzac uses it of the mind in general.^[2][3] The Académie recorded the current sense in 1842.^[7] As a neuter noun, le psychique “the psychical” is found in Bergson in 1907.^[2][3] The word is also used loosely of occult or unexplained phenomena, where it competes with parapsychique.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1557 – Dupuyherbault uses psychiques for materialists.^[2][7]
• 1605 – Pierre Le Loyer recalls that Catholics were called psychiques.^[2]
• 1721 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records it in the sense “animal, vital”.^[2][7]
• 1808 – The Grand Robert and Bloch and Wartburg date the modern adjective from this year.^[9][5]
• 1819 – Boiste records fluide psychique in the sense “relating to the soul”.^[2]
• 1822 – The derivative psychiquement appears in Maine de Biran's journal.^[2][3]
• 1837 – Balzac uses it of the mind.^[2][3]
• 1907 – Bergson uses le psychique as a noun.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to the mind or to thought; mental, psychological: Son état psychique s'est amélioré.^[8][2][4]
2. (loosely) paranormal, psychic.^[8][3]

Noun

1. le psychique: the psyche, the domain of mental life.^[7][2]

Word family

• psychiquement
• psychisme
• parapsychique
• métapsychique

Related words

• psychologie
• psychose
• Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ)

Usage notes

After Tertullian joined the Montanist heresy, he used the noun as a term of contempt for the Catholics;^[10] Littré still records this sense.^[10]

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 o p q r 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette