stimulant

Forms

stimulant m (plural stimulants)^[1]

Etymology

It is the present participle from French stimuler, used as an adjective and noun.^[2][3][4] The verb was borrowed in 1356 from Latin stimulō (“to goad”), from stimulus (“goad”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1752, in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux, both for a piercing physical pain and for what excites the body's functions.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The medical sense came first and soon gave a noun: in 1765 the Encyclopédie uses stimulant for a remedy that excites the organic functions.^[2][4] Rousseau used the noun for what excites the mind in Émile (1762), and the adjective with that sense about 1772.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg note that its meanings developed in step with those of the verb.^[4] The sense “piercing” of a pain has not lasted.^[5]

In modern French the word covers both substances that increase physical or mental activity and anything that spurs a person on.^[6][7] The compound psychostimulant (1972) names what stimulates mental activity and alertness.^[5]

Timeline

• 1752 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the adjective, of a piercing pain and of what excites the organic functions.^[2]
• 1762 – Rousseau uses the noun for what excites the mind.^[2]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses the noun for a stimulating remedy.^[2][4]
• c. 1772 – Rousseau uses the adjective figuratively.^[2][8]
• 1972 – Psychostimulant is first recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That increases physical or mental activity or the work of the organs, as in le thé a un effet stimulant.^[6][9]
2. (figurative) stimulating, encouraging: that increases someone's energy or zeal, as in une discussion stimulante.^[6][8]

Noun

1. A stimulant: a drug or substance that activates organic or mental functions.^[7][9]
2. (figurative) Something that gives a person energy or courage, an incentive.^[7][10]

Word family

• psychostimulant

Related words

• stimuler
• stimulation
• stimulus

References

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