singulier

Forms

singulier (feminine singulière, masculine plural singuliers, feminine plural singulières)^[1] Old French singuler and singuleir;^[2][3][4] singulier is found from 1295.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin singulāris (“single, solitary, relating to one, unique, extraordinary”), first as singuler in 1174–1176.^[5][4][2] Old Provençal borrowed the word as Old Occitan singular about 1140.^[4][3] The ending was later replaced by -ier, giving the present form at the end of the 13th century.^[4][2][6]

The Latin adjective is derived from singulī (“one by one, each”), the plural of singulus (“single”).^[4][5] Rey connects the first element of the Latin word with Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”), the root of simple and similaire, and calls the second element unclear.^[4] It is a doublet of sanglier.^[1]

Littré also compares Spanish singular and Italian singolare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Thomas Becket (1174–1176), is a grammatical noun: singuler e plurel aveit tut parigal, “he held singular and plural all alike”.^[5][7] At the end of the 12th century the sermons of Saint Bernard use singuleir for “unique, alone”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word was mainly a grammatical term or meant “concerning one only”;^[2] the sense “belonging to one only”, recorded in 1282, became usual only in the 17th century.^[5][4] From it come bataille singulière (1512, Jean Lemaire de Belges) and combat singulier (1579), a fight between two opponents.^[5][4]

“That stands out from others” appears in the second half of the 14th century, and about 1393 the Ménagier de Paris warns against being singulier en diz et en faiz, “singular in words and deeds”.^[5] This favourable sense became usual only in the 17th century;^[2] in classical French the word also meant “rare, excellent” (1538) and after 1660 “astonishing, extraordinary”.^[4] The pejorative “odd, strange” is found from the 15th century but became common only in the 18th,^[2] as in Crébillon fils's de singuliers propos (1742).^[5]

Port-Royal's logic used proposition singulière in 1662, and the Encyclopédie points singuliers of a curve in 1754.^[5][4] The derived adverb singulièrement dates from about 1190, and singulariser, shaped on the Latin form, from 1555.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1174–1176 – Singuler is used as a grammatical noun by Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[5]
• Late 12th century – Singuleir means “unique, alone”.^[5]
• 1282 – It means “belonging to one only”.^[5]
• 1295 – The form singulier appears.^[2][3]
• Second half of the 14th century – First used for what stands out from others.^[5]
• 1512 – Bataille singulière in Jean Lemaire de Belges.^[5]
• 1579 – Combat singulier in Pierre de Larivey.^[5]
• 1662 – The Logic of Port-Royal uses it as a term of logic.^[5]
• 1742 – Crébillon fils uses it in the pejorative sense “strange”.^[5]
• 1754 – The Encyclopédie speaks of the points singuliers of a curve.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (grammar) Singular, denoting one: la deuxième personne du singulier.^[5][1]
2. (dated) Individual, particular, concerning one person or thing only; in logic, opposed to général.^[8][7]
3. Combat singulier: a single combat between two opponents.^[8][7]
4. (literary) Unlike others, unique: une femme singulière.^[8]
5. Surprising, peculiar, strange: une singulière coïncidence.^[8][1]
6. (mathematics) Point singulier: a point with properties peculiar to itself.^[8][5]

Noun

1. (grammar) The singular number: ce nom ne s'emploie qu'au singulier.^[5][7]

Word family

• singulièrement
• singulariser

Related words

• singularité
• sanglier
• Latin singulāris

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert