soustraction

Forms

soustraction f (usually uncountable, plural soustractions)^[1] Old French subtractiun (about 1155), later substraction (about 1370), which was used until the middle of the 17th century.^[2][3][4] The spelling soustraction appears in 1484.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin subtractiō (“a withdrawing”), which in Boethius is also a mathematical term, a noun from subtrahō (“to withdraw”) (supine subtractum).^[2][3][5] The modern form is a reshaping after words with sous-, such as souscrire.^[2][3][5] The verb soustraire goes back to the same Latin verb.^[4][3]

Littré compares Old Occitan sostraccio, Spanish substraccion and Italian sottrazione.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Brut, about 1155, has subtractiun for the dropping of a syllable from a word.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Nicolas Chuquet used soustraction in 1484 for the arithmetical operation of taking one number from another; the GLLF finds an earlier subtration in this sense in a 13th-century treatise on algorisme.^[2][5] The general sense “taking away, removal” is found in Oresme about 1370.^[3][6] In 1636 Monet records the taking of something by stealth or fraud, and in 1690 Furetière the removal of documents from a lawsuit, the origin of the legal sense.^[2][5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – Wace uses subtractiun in the Roman de Brut.^[2]
• c. 1370 – Oresme writes substraction for taking away.^[5][6]
• 1484 – Nicolas Chuquet's Triparty uses soustraction in arithmetic.^[2]
• 1636 – Monet records the sense “taking by fraud”.^[2][5]
• 1690 – Furetière records it for documents removed from a lawsuit.^[2]
• mid-17th century – The form substraction is last recorded, in Corneille.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (arithmetic) subtraction, the operation of taking one number from another to find the différence: faire une soustraction.^[7][6]
2. (law) The offence of removing a document from a file, or of an official taking documents in their keeping.^[7][2]
3. (dated) The act of taking away or removing something.^[7][6]

Related words

• soustraire
• Latin subtrahō

Usage notes

Its opposite in arithmetic is addition.^[7]

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert