Etymologically
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sentiment

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 08:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɑ̃.ti.mɑ̃/[1]

Forms

sentiment m (plural sentiments)[1] Old French sentement (about 1190), surviving until the 16th century, sentiment from 1314 (Henri de Mondeville).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a remaking of Old French “sentement”, from French sentir + -ment.[2][3][4][5] sentir is from Latin sentiō (“to perceive, feel”).[4] Wiktionary derives “sentement” from Medieval Latin “sentimentum”.[1]

Compare Old Occitan sentiment, Spanish sentimiento and Italian sentimento.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the late 12th-century Sermons de saint Bernard sentement is the faculty of receiving physical impressions, sensation; the same century's Sermons de saint Grégoire use it for knowledge, being aware of something.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages and the 16th century it also meant sensation and the senses (perdre le sentement, late 13th century; smell, 1542–59, still a hunting term; taste, 1572), and intelligence, opinion and science (late 14th century).[2][5] Au sentiment de “in the opinion of” is in Molière (1659).[7] From 1279 it named any emotion, and by the late 13th century love: a chanson de sentement is a love song.[2] The 17th and 18th centuries added goodwill (Corneille, 1643), the artist's sensitivity (Fénelon) and le sentiment, the affective side of man (Marivaux, 1741).[2] In 1799 a sentiment was also a bracelet of plaited hair worn as a keepsake.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1190 – Sentement “sensation”, Sermons de saint Bernard.[7]
  • 1279 – An emotion.[2]
  • 1314 – The form sentiment, Henri de Mondeville.[2]
  • 1381 – “Opinion”, Eustache Deschamps.[2]
  • 1580 – Ressentiment.[4]
  • 1741 – Le sentiment, the affective life, Marivaux.[2]
  • 1799 – A hair bracelet.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A feeling, emotion: un sentiment de joie, des sentiments sincères.[9][1]
  2. A sense, impression: avoir le sentiment que, un sentiment de solitude.[5][9]
  3. Feelings, love: déclarer ses sentiments, prendre par les sentiments, to appeal to someone's heart.[5][1]
  4. A sense, an appreciation: le sentiment de la nature, le sentiment du devoir accompli.[5][1]
  5. (literary) An opinion, view: je ne partage pas votre sentiment.[9][1]
  6. Le sentiment: emotion as opposed to reason; sentimentality: faire du sentiment.[7][9]

Word family

  • sentimental
  • sentimentalité
  • sentimentalisme

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)