simpliste

Forms

simpliste (plural simplistes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French simple + -iste.^[2][1][3] The adjective was coined in the vocabulary of Fourier's followers, the Fourierists, and spread into general use in the second half of the 19th century.^[2][4] Rey dates it to Fourier in 1829, as does the GLLF; the TLFi's first record is from Fourier in 1836.^[5][6][2] The base adjective is from Latin simplex (“made of a single element”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Fourier's writings it described a mind that sees only one side of a matter and reasons from it alone.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Littré still labels it a term of the Fourierist school, used of people who consider only one face of a question, and notes that it had passed into ordinary language.^[4] The noun use, un simpliste, is recorded from 1842, and the Académie's supplement registered the word that year.^[5][2] From people it was extended to ideas, reasoning and solutions that oversimplify, often with a pejorative tone.^[2][6] The related noun simplisme is older still, used by Fourier in 1822 of a kind of reasoning.^[5]

Timeline

• 1829 – Fourier uses simpliste as an adjective.^[5][6]
• 1836 – The TLFi's first record, in Fourier's La Fausse industrie.^[2]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement records it, and it is used as a noun.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person: who sees only one aspect of things and oversimplifies.^[8][2]
2. Of an idea, an argument or a solution: simplistic, too simple to be accurate: une analyse simpliste de la crise.^[9][10]

Noun

1. A simplistic person.^[10][2]

Usage notes

A different noun simpliste, derived from simple in the sense “medicinal plant”, meant a herbalist or a seller of simples in the 16th and 17th centuries;^[5][2][3] Rey records it from 1588 and finds no trace of it after 1660, beside simplicite (1557) and simpliciste (1566).^[5][2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)