Etymologically
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sécurité

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /se.ky.ʁi.te/[1]

Forms

sécurité f (plural sécurités)[1] The Académie spelled it securité in 1694 and 1718, sécurité from 1740.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēcūritās (“freedom from care; tranquillity; safety; guarantee”), from sēcūrus (“free from care”), the source of sûr.[2][3][4][5][6] It is a learned doublet of sûreté, borrowed to express a nuance of sense distinct from it.[4][5][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found about 1190 and in the first half of the 13th century for the confidence of someone who thinks they have nothing to fear.[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Taken up again about 1480, it remained rare until it became usual in the 17th and 18th centuries.[3][5][4] Montaigne has en toute sécurité (about 1588), still with the sense “in complete peace of mind”.[2][8] In the 18th century it came to mean the objective absence of danger (1770, Raynal), and laws spoke of sécurité publique (1870).[3][2]

Engineering gave coefficient de sécurité (1889) and de sécurité for protective devices (1925).[2][3] Sécurité sociale (1945), familiarly la sécu (1960), is a calque of English social security (1935), and under English influence the word has replaced sûreté in many contexts, as in air travel.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1190 – First record.[3][5]
  • c. 1480 – Taken up again.[3]
  • c. 1588 – En toute sécurité, Montaigne.[2]
  • 1770 – Absence of danger, Raynal.[3]
  • 1889 – Coefficient de sécurité.[2]
  • 1945 – Sécurité sociale.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A feeling of security, peace of mind: en toute sécurité.[9][2]
  2. safety, security: the absence of danger: la sécurité de l'emploi, la sécurité routière.[9][1]
  3. Public order and protection: la sécurité publique, forces de sécurité.[2][8]
  4. De sécurité: protective: ceinture de sécurité, dispositif de sécurité.[3][2]
  5. Sécurité sociale: the French social insurance system.[2][3]

Word family

  • sécuritaire
  • sécuriser
  • insécurité

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 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 i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 387b
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert