sensibilité

Forms

sensibilité f (plural sensibilités)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin sensibilitas (“sense, meaning, feeling, sensibility”), from Latin sensibilis (“perceptible by the senses”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The same surgeon also used sensibleté, formed on sensible, in the same sense.^[7][8]

Cognate with Old Occitan sensibilitat, Spanish sensibilidad and Italian sensibilità.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1314 in the Chirurgie of Henri de Mondeville,^[2][7] in sensibilité semblable “a similar example”, where it has the Latin sense “meaning”:^[3][7] la seconde par sensibilité semblable.^[8] From its first uses it also named the property of a living being of being affected by its surroundings.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “meaning” did not last.^[3] In the 17th century the word was taken up for the capacity for sympathy (before 1662, Pascal) and for the human capacity to feel emotions (1671, Pomey); it then named the quality of being moved by pity (1675–1678, La Rochefoucauld) and, for a time, gratitude for a favour (1680, Richelet).^[3][2]

In the 18th century, with sensible in l'homme sensible, it became a key value of the age, used of artists and writers (1738) and later of a work, an era or a generation.^[3][7] In technical language it came to mean the capacity to detect slight variations or to react to a physical action: of a magnetic needle before 1788, of a balance in the Académie's dictionary of 1798, and in photography in 1858.^[3][2][9] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary records sensibilité, with a query, from the mid-13th century, meaning perception through the senses.^[10]

Timeline

• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville uses sensibilité and sensibleté.^[2][7]
• before 1662 – Pascal uses it of attachment or sympathy.^[2][3]
• 1671 – Pomey records the faculty of feeling.^[2][3]
• 1678 – La Rochefoucauld uses it of humanity and pity.^[2]
• 1680 – Richelet records the sense “gratitude”.^[2][3]
• 1738 – Used of the sensibility of artists and writers.^[3][7]
• 1798 – The Académie records sensibilité d'une balance.^[2][9]
• 1858 – First used in photography.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The property of a living being or an organ of reacting to changes in its surroundings; sensitivity: la sensibilité de la peau.^[6][11][5]
2. The capacity to feel emotions, as distinct from intelligence and will; sensibility: un garçon d'une grande sensibilité.^[6][5]
3. The capacity to feel compassion or sympathy.^[6][5]
4. The capacity of an instrument to detect slight variations: la sensibilité d'un thermomètre.^[6][2]
5. (photography) The response of an emulsion to a given quantity of light.^[6][2]
6. (politics) An opinion, tendency or current within a group.^[6]

Related words

• sensible
• sensibiliser
• Latin sensibilitas

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)