Etymologically
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sexe

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɛks/[1]

Forms

sexe m (plural sexes)[1] Old French ses (late 12th century); sexe is a respelling after Latin (about 1265, Brunetto Latini).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sexus (“sex”), which was also used of plants;[2][5][4][6] the older Old French form was borrowed too, then remade after the Latin.[2] The origin of the Latin word is debated: it has been linked with secō (“to cut, divide”), as naming the division of a species into males and females;[2][7][1] the Grand Robert gives the stem of sectus (“separation”).[4] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word was rare before the 16th century.[5]

Compare Old Occitan sexe, Spanish sexo and Italian sesso.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF finds ses in the Roman d'Alexandre (late 12th century) for the characters that distinguish men from women,[3][2] and Jean de Meun (1269–1278) speaks of .II. persones de divers sexe.[8]

Semantic evolution

Modern dictionaries often date the sense “genitals” to about 1200 (sex, in the Dialogues of Gregory), but Rey thinks this probably a confusion; the sense becomes clear only about 1880, in Zola's Nana.[8][2] The whole of the characters and functions distinguishing male from female is in 1380, and the word was applied to plants in 1562.[2] By metonymy it named the whole of men or of women: ce très doulx sexe femenin (about 1380), Rabelais's sexe fragil (1546), Garnier's sexe imbécile (1580), le beau sexe (about 1640), le sexe “women” (Malherbe, early 17th century), le sexe fort (Flaubert, 1857) and le sexe faible (1904).[8][3]

Madame de Staël used troisième sexe (1817) for women thought to lack femininity.[9] Le sexe des anges, of a futile question, dates from 1938.[8] The adjective sexuel (1742) is borrowed from Late Latin sexualis, and sexualité dates from 1859.[5]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Ses.[3]
  • c. 1265 – The form sexe, in Brunetto Latini.[3]
  • 1269–1278 – De divers sexe, in Jean de Meun.[8]
  • 1546 – Sexe fragil, in Rabelais.[8]
  • 1562 – Of plants.[2]
  • c. 1640 – Le beau sexe.[3]
  • 1742 – Sexuel.[5]
  • 1857 – Le sexe fort, in Flaubert.[3]
  • c. 1880 – “Genitals”, in Zola.[2]
  • 1938 – Le sexe des anges.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Sex, the biological category of male or female: enfant du sexe masculin, féminin, changement de sexe.[10][1]
  2. Men or women as a group: le sexe fort, le sexe faible, le beau sexe, women, (archaic) le sexe, womankind.[10][3][1]
  3. Sexuality; sex, sexual activity.[1]
  4. The sex organs, genitals.[1][2]
  5. Discuter du sexe des anges: to argue about trivialities.[1][8]

Word family

  • sexer
  • sexage
  • sexuel
  • sexualité

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  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 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, 560a
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert