révolutionnaire

Forms

révolutionnaire (plural révolutionnaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French révolution + -aire.^[2][1][3] The base révolution is from Late Latin revolūtiō (“a revolving, return”).^[4] The TLFi's first record is from April 1790, while Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Rey date the word to 1789.^{[2][4][3][5][6]} Rey groups it with the derivatives of that noun that arose during the French Revolution itself.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record in the TLFi is in a speech by Mirabeau of 19 April 1790, les circonstances révolutionnaires qui nous ont agités “the revolutionary circumstances that have stirred us”, where it means “relating to a revolution”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1790 the adjective was also used of a person, “supporting the revolution”, and it was soon a noun for a supporter of the revolution.^[2][6] During the Terror it qualified the bodies and measures of the revolutionary state: the tribunal révolutionnaire (March 1793), mesures révolutionnaires taken to meet the urgent demands of the moment, the gouvernement révolutionnaire (1794).^[2][6] In late 1793 it was also used figuratively for what was quick and decided without appeal or delay.^[2]

Very early it was extended to anyone favouring sudden and radical change, and to what is new and original, as in the procédé révolutionnaire de tannage des cuirs of 1794–95;^[2][6] Rey notes that this sense of “very new” is now common in advertising, trade and journalism.^[6] From 1860 the noun also names an innovator, as when Sainte-Beuve speaks of de francs révolutionnaires in literature.^[2] The sense “instituted by a revolution” is dated 1795 and “proper to a revolution” 1800 by Rey.^[6]

Timeline

• 1790 – Mirabeau uses circonstances révolutionnaires (19 April).^[2]
• 1790 – It qualifies a person (un martyr révolutionnaire) and appears as a noun (11 September).^[2][6]
• 1793 – The tribunal révolutionnaire is named at the Jacobin Club (9 March).^[2][6]
• 1793 – Saint-Just uses the adverb révolutionnairement.^[6]
• 1793 – A district council calls its orders révolutionnaires in the sense “summary, without appeal” (24 November).^[2]
• 1793–94 – Camille Desmoulins writes of mesures révolutionnaires in the Vieux Cordelier.^[2]
• 1794 – The Journal de la Montagne has gouvernement révolutionnaire.^[2]
• 1794–95 – First used for what is new and original.^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie records mesures révolutionnaires.^[7]
• 1843 – The derivative révolutionnarisme appears.^[6]
• 1860 – Sainte-Beuve uses the noun for an innovator in literature.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the character of a revolution, or aiming at one.^[5][8][9]
2. Instituted by a revolution or issuing from it: gouvernement révolutionnaire, tribunal révolutionnaire.^[2][5]
3. Relating to a revolution or its period, especially the French Revolution: le calendrier révolutionnaire.^[5][8]
4. Supporting a revolution, or acting for it.^[5][10]
5. Radically new, groundbreaking: une méthode révolutionnaire.^[2][1]

Noun

1. A revolutionary, a supporter of or participant in a revolution.^[5][8][10]
2. A person with radical, innovative ideas that profoundly change a field.^[8][2]

Word family

• révolutionnairement
• révolutionnarisme

Related words

• révolution
• révolutionner
• contre-révolutionnaire
• Late Latin revolūtiō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 s 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette