rudimentaire

Forms

rudimentaire (plural rudimentaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French rudiment + -aire.^[2][1][3] The base was borrowed in 1495 from Latin rudīmentum (“first lessons, beginning”), from rudis (“rough, untaught”).^[4]

The TLFi and the DHLF date it to 1789; the Grand Robert, the GLLF and Bloch and Wartburg give 1812 (Mozin) for the noun and 1842 for the adjective.^{[2][3][5][6][4]}

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1789, in a grammar, as a noun for the author of a rudiment, an elementary grammar book, and in the same year as an adjective meaning “belonging to the rudiment, to the first rules of language”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun did not last, but the adjective spread quickly.^[3] From “elementary” it came to mean “in a rudimentary state, summary”, and natural history used it from 1842 for a part that exists only in outline or as a remnant.^[3][2][7] In 1865 organes rudimentaires named reduced, atrophied organs.^[2] While rudiment itself has grown rare in some uses, rudimentaire has stayed common.^[3]

Timeline

• 1789 – First recorded, as a noun and as an adjective.^[2][3]
• 1812 – Mozin records the noun “author of a rudiment”.^[6][5]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement records the natural-history sense.^[2][6]
• 1865 – Organes rudimentaires in Littré and Robin.^[2]
• 1875 – The adverb rudimentairement is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. rudimentary, elementary: limited to the simplest notions or very little developed.^[8][6]
2. Summary, basic, barely adequate, as knowledge or equipment.^[8]
3. (natural sciences) Only roughly formed or surviving as a remnant, as an atrophied organ.^[8][2]
4. (dated) Belonging to the first rules of a subject, as a school book.^[2][7]

Word family

• rudimentairement

Related words

• rudiment
• rude
• Latin rudīmentum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert