sécession

Forms

sécession f (plural sécessions)^[1] Middle French cecession (1354); the etymological spelling secession appears about 1508.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēcessiō (“a going apart, withdrawal, political separation”),^[4][2][3][5] from sēcēdō (“to go apart, withdraw”), formed from sē- (“apart”) and cēdō (“to go”).^[2][6][5][7] It is thus related to céder and cesser.^[2]

In guerre de Sécession it is a calque of Anglo-American war of secession, and the sense in the fine arts follows German Sezession.^[8][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bersuire's translation of Livy, about 1355, has cecessions et departemens, for political separation or withdrawal from a community.^[4] The DHLF, the Grand Robert and the GLLF date it to 1354 and gloss this first use as “sedition”.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The early sense of revolt did not survive into classical French; the word was taken up again at the start of the 16th century (Fossetier, about 1508) for the act by which part of a state's population separates from it to form a state of its own or to join another.^[2][4][3] By extension it came to mean withdrawing from any group (Peiresc, 1624).^[4][2][6]

In Roman history it names the withdrawal of the plebs to the Sacred Mount, recorded in 1834 in Boiste.^[4][2][6] The American sense came through the English word secession, used from 1830 of states threatening to leave the Union and then of the war of 1861–1865;^[4][8][2] guerre de Sécession is recorded in 1866.^[4][8][2] In 1909 the art historian Réau applied it to the movements that broke with academic art in Munich (1892), Berlin (1893) and Vienna (1897).^[4]

Sécessionniste dates from the 19th century and sécessionnisme from 1969.^[9][4]

Timeline

• c. 1355 – Cecessions in Bersuire's translation of Livy.^[4]
• c. 1508 – The spelling secession in Fossetier.^[4][2]
• 1624 – Peiresc uses it for withdrawing in general.^[4]
• 1834 – Boiste records the Roman sense.^[4][6]
• 1866 – Guerre de la sécession in Larousse's 19th-century dictionary.^[4]
• 1909 – Used in the history of art.^[4]
• 1969 – Sécessionnisme appears.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (politics) secession: the act by which part of a state's population separates from it, peacefully or by force, to form an independent state or join another.^[4][10][5]
2. Faire sécession: to secede, to break away from a state or group.^[4][10]
3. Guerre de Sécession: the American Civil War (1861–1865).^[10][2]
4. The act of withdrawing from a group in general.^[10][11]
5. (Roman history) The withdrawal of the plebs from the city to force the senate to recognize its rights.^[7][5][4]
6. (fine arts) A Secession, a movement breaking with academic art.^[4]

Word family

• sécessionniste
• sécessionnisme

Related words

• céder
• cesser
• récession
• Latin sēcessiō
• English secession

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d 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 m n o p q r s t u v 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
5. ^ a b c d Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ a b c d e 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org