spectral

Forms

spectral (feminine spectrale, masculine plural spectraux, feminine plural spectrales)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French spectre + -al.^[2][1][3] The noun spectre is from Latin spectrum (“apparition, ghost”) (1586); its sense in optics (1720) came from the English word spectrum, which Newton took from Latin for this meaning.^[4] The adjective follows both senses of the noun.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Baudelaire's translation of Poe's tales (1856), meaning “like a ghost”.^[2][3] Rey notes that the word must be older, since the adverb spectralement is found in 1847.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense describes what looks like a ghost or a phantom, as in pâleur spectrale, and is now mostly literary.^[2][6][7]

In physics it was formed anew on spectre in its optical sense: analyse spectrale appears in the early 1860s, of the work of Bunsen and Kirchhoff, for the study of a substance through the lines of its spectrum.^[3][2][7] It then also qualifies what makes up a spectrum or is seen in one, as raies spectrales.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1856 – Baudelaire uses spectral “ghostly”.^[2][3]
• 1859 – Victor Hugo uses it.^[5][7]
• 1861 – Analyse spectrale is used of Bunsen and Kirchhoff's work.^[3]
• 1863 – Analyse spectrale appears in the Comptes rendus of the Academy of Sciences.^[2]
• 1872 – Littré records the physical sense.^[7][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) ghostly, looking like a spectre or phantom: une pâleur spectrale.^[6][9][2]
2. (physics) Relating to a spectrum or to its study: analyse spectrale, raies spectrales.^[6][9][2]

Word family

• spectralement

Related words

• spectre
• spectromètre
• Latin spectrum

References

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