rigidité

Forms

rigidité f (plural rigidités)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rigiditās (“stiffness, inflexibility”), a derivative of rigidus (“stiff, unbending”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin adjective belongs to the family of rigeō (“to be stiff”).^[6] Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed as rigide with the suffix -ité.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1641, in Étienne de Clave's Nouvelles lumières philosophiques, in the moral sense of severity and intransigence.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word first described a rigid person who applies the rules to the letter, and by metonymy, before 1703, something that imposes strict constraints.^[5][7] The physical sense came through anatomy: in 1761 the naturalist Robinet used it of body fibres lacking suppleness, and Raynal applied it to stiff muscles in 1770.^[2][7] It became general from 1782, when Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote of the rigidité du fer,^[2][5] and rigidité cadavérique, the stiffening of a body after death, appears in 1857.^[2][5]

Littré (1870) records it in horse-riding for a lack of suppleness in the mount or rider,^[4][5] and in electricity rigidité diélectrique is an insulator's resistance to breakdown.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1641 – Étienne de Clave uses it for severity and intransigence.^[2]
• before 1703 – Saint-Évremond uses it for something imposing strict constraints.^[7][5]
• 1761 – Robinet uses it of stiff body fibres.^[2][5]
• 1782 – Louis-Sébastien Mercier writes of the rigidité du fer.^[2]
• 1857 – Rigidité cadavérique is first recorded, in Edmond About.^[2]
• 1870 – Littré records the riding sense.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Stiffness: the state of a solid that resists bending, pressure or twisting.^[2][8][9]
2. Rigidité cadavérique: rigor mortis.^[2][10]
3. (electricity) Rigidité diélectrique: the property of an insulator that resists breakdown.^[2]
4. (medicine) Lack of suppleness of the muscles or of a body part: rigidité pupillaire.^[10]
5. (figurative) Severity or inflexibility of a person or their principles.^[10][3][9]
6. The strictness of rules or arrangements that leave no room for adjustment: la rigidité d'un horaire.^[9][3]

Word family

• psychorigidité

Related words

• rigide
• raide
• raideur
• rigueur
• Latin rigiditās

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert