spontanéité

Forms

spontanéité f (plural spontanéités)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French spontané + -ité.^[2][3][4][5] Spontané is from Late Latin spontāneus (“voluntary, of one's own accord”),^[5][6] from sponte (“of one's own will”), the ablative of spōns (“free will”).^[5][6] Wiktionary compares Latin spontāneitās.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1695 in the Journal des savants, in Leibniz's account of the soul, which God made so that everything arises in it from its own depths, par une parfaite spontaneïté à l'égard d'elle-mesme (“by a perfect spontaneity with regard to itself”).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It began as a learned term of philosophy and physiology, for what moves or acts by its own impulse,^[6][2][7] and Littré still calls it a didactic term, with a medical use, spontanéité morbide.^[8] It then became a word of everyday language, for the natural and sincere quality of a person or an act.^[6][7][4]

In 1968 political language took up the idea in spontanéisme, confidence in the spontaneity of the masses.^[6]

Timeline

• 1695 – Leibniz uses spontaneïté in the Journal des savants.^[2][5]
• 1838 – Ozanam uses it of the movement of bodies and living beings.^[2]
• 1968 – Spontanéisme enters political language.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (philosophy, dated) The character of what is spontaneous, produced by the agent's own impulse and not by an outside cause.^[7][2]
2. The quality of a spontaneous person or act: spontaneity, naturel, sincérité.^[7][4][2]

Related words

• spontané
• spontanément
• spontanéisme
• Latin spontāneus

References

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