science

Forms

science f (plural sciences)^[1] Old French also escience (1119).^[2][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include cience and sciense.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin scientia (“knowledge, scientific knowledge”).^{[2][5][6][7][8]} The Latin noun comes from sciēns (“knowing, learned, skilled”), the present participle of sciō (“to know”).^[5][7][9] Already in Classical Latin the word had taken on the sense of the Greek philosophers' word for theoretical knowledge.^[5] Rey thinks that the verb may first have meant “to cut”, then “to decide”, and notes that it has no counterpart in the other Indo-European languages.^[5]

In the Roland passage Segre reads escïence and links it with essïent, so the sense of the first record is uncertain.^[2]

Cognate with Romanian știință, Italian scienza, Occitan sciencia, Catalan ciència, Spanish ciencia and Portuguese ciência.^[9][3] In Latin the verb gave way to sapiō in the sense “to know”, the source of savoir.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) the word seems to mean a skill acquired in some field, here warfare: e il unt grant science “and they have great skill”.^[2][3] The sense “knowledge gained by study and reflection” is found in Philippe de Thaon's Comput in 1119, in the form escience.^[2]

Semantic evolution

French took over both general values of the Latin word: everyday “knowledge”, the main one from the 12th century, and “theoretical knowledge”, which won out in the 18th century.^[5] Before the 14th century the word mostly named practical knowledge, often in the service of religion; from about 1120 it was used of the deep knowledge of God and of creatures, and la science du bien et du mal (about 1170) referred to the tree of knowledge of Genesis.^[5] The phrase par science “knowingly” (about 1165) became en science and then avec science (1694).^[5]

From about 1268 Brunetto Latini's Trésor uses it for an organised body of knowledge in a field, and in 1370 Oresme has science politique, science naturele and sciences mathématiques;^[2] sciences humaines is in Montaigne in 1580.^[2] Rabelais's science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme (1532) opposes knowledge to moral sense.^[2][5] Avoir la science infuse first meant, in theology, knowledge given by God through inspiration, as to Adam; it came to mean innate knowledge and then, ironically, claiming to know everything (1835).^[5] The gaie science (1586), the art of poetry, was taken from Old Provençal la gaya sciensa.^[5]

In the 17th century, with Bacon and Descartes, the idea of science moved away from philosophy and theology and method became central.^[5] Molière uses la science in 1672 for humanity's knowledge in its search for truth, d'Alembert speaks of la vraie science in 1751, and la science pure is found from 1842.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Science “acquired skill” in the Chanson de Roland (sense uncertain).^[2]
• 1119 – Escience “knowledge gained by study” in Philippe de Thaon.^[2]
• c. 1170 – La science du bien et du mal appears.^[5]
• c. 1268 – Brunetto Latini uses it for a body of knowledge in a field.^[2]
• 1370 – Oresme writes of science politique and sciences mathématiques.^[2]
• 1532 – Rabelais: science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme.^[2]
• 1580 – Sciences humaines in Montaigne.^[2]
• 1646 – Science infuse “innate knowledge”.^[2]
• 1672 – Molière uses la science for humanity's knowledge as a whole.^[2]
• 1751 – D'Alembert writes of la vraie science;^[2][9] sciences exactes is recorded.^[2][9]
• 1842 – La science pure “science for its own sake”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary or dated) Exact and thorough knowledge of something: savoir une chose de science certaine, l'arbre de la science du bien et du mal.^[9][3]
2. (literary) The body of knowledge and experience a person has acquired: la science d'un vieux marin.^[9]
3. Avoir la science infuse: to know without having learned, or to claim to know everything.^[9][5]
4. An art or practice that requires knowledge and rules: la science de la guerre.^[9]
5. A body of knowledge with its own object and method; a discipline: sciences humaines, sciences exactes, sciences sociales.^[9][2]
6. La science: the whole of knowledge founded on verifiable, objective relations: un homme de science.^[9][2]
7. Les sciences: the disciplines where calculation and observation play a large part (mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural sciences), as opposed to letters.^[9]

Related words

• scientificité
• scientifique
• scientiste
• conscience
• escient
• sciemment
• prescience
• omniscience
• Latin scientia

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 307b
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert