qualification

Forms

qualification f (plural qualifications)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French qualification, borrowed from Medieval Latin quālificātiō (“condition”), a Scholastic Latin word recorded in 1389 and formed on the supine of quālificō, the source of qualifier.^[2][3][4][1]

The sporting sense and the sense “professional skill” arose under the influence of English qualification (“capacity”), recorded in English from about 1590, which had itself been taken in the 1540s from the French word or directly from the Medieval Latin one.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1431, in a text printed in Isambert's collection of the old laws of France, in the sense “the attribution of a quality”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named the act or manner of qualifying a person or a thing, giving them a name, title or quality.^[4][2] It was specialised in theology, for the assessment of a theological proposition (1694), in law (about 1770) and in grammar (1922).^[4][5]

Under English influence it entered sport, first horse racing (1840), for the fact of qualifying for a race or a later round, as qualifier and qualifié did.^[2][4] In the 20th century it came to mean the training and aptitude of a worker or employee (1936), notably in qualification professionnelle (1947).^[2][4] This sense gave the compound sous-qualification (about 1965).^[4]

Timeline

• 1389 – Medieval Latin qualificatio “condition” is recorded.^[2]
• 1431 – First French record, “attribution of a quality”.^[2][3]
• 1694 – Used in theology for the assessment of a proposition.^[4]
• c. 1770 – Rousseau uses it in law.^[5]
• 1840 – First used in horse racing.^[2][4]
• 1922 – Brunot uses it in grammar.^[5]
• 1936 – Maritain uses it of a manual worker's aptitudes from training.^[2]
• 1947 – Qualification professionnelle is recorded.^[2][4]
• c. 1965 – The compound sous-qualification appears.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or manner of qualifying: giving someone or something a name, title or quality; also the name so given, as in il refuse la qualification de menteur.^[6][2][7]
2. (law) The determination of the offence, or of the legal category, that an act or a situation falls under.^[6][5]
3. (grammar) Characterisation by means of a qualificatif.^[6][5]
4. (Catholic theology) The assessment of a theological proposition.^[8][4]
5. (sport) The fact of qualifying, or being qualified, for a race, a final or a later stage of a competition.^[6][7][2]
6. A worker's or employee's professional skill, rated by training, experience and responsibility, as in qualification professionnelle.^[7][2]

Word family

• sous-qualification

Related words

• qualifier
• qualificatif
• requalification
• Medieval Latin quālificātiō
• English qualification

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. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette