salinité

Forms

salinité f (plural salinités)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French salin + -ité.^[2][3][1][4] The adjective is formed from sal, the old form of sel, or, as Wiktionary has it, on Latin sāl (“salt”).^[3][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1867 in an article by Reclus in the Revue des Deux Mondes, for the average amount of all the salts contained in the sea, “the salinity of sea water”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It has kept the sense “salt content”, applied especially to natural waters: seas and salt lakes.^[4] Littré defined it simply as a saline quality, while the geographer de Martonne used it in 1908 for the concentration of dissolved mineral salts in sea water, the technical sense of oceanography.^[6][5] It has also been used of the proportion of salt in salted meats.^[2]

Timeline

• 1867 – Reclus uses it of sea water in the Revue des Deux Mondes.^[2][4]
• 1908 – De Martonne uses it for the salt concentration of sea water.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being saline or of containing salt.^[2][7]
2. salinity: the content of dissolved salts in a water, a solution or a soil, especially of seawater: la salinité de cette lagune augmente en été.^[2][7][5]

Related words

• salin
• sel
• dessaler
• English salinity

References

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