stimuler

Forms

stimuler^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin stimulō (“to prick with a goad, spur on, torment”), from stimulus (“goad”).^[2][3][4][5] Rey connects the Latin noun, probably, with an Indo-European root also found in the Greek word behind stigmate.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Pierre Bersuire's translation of Livy (1355), where it means to rouse someone and urge them to do something, the figurative sense of the Latin verb.^[2][3] Littré quotes Bersuire: La cause veritable laquelle deus pueples cousins et vesins stimule et espoint à fere ceste guerre (“the true cause that spurs two neighbouring and related peoples to wage this war”).^[6]

Semantic evolution

From about 1355 the verb also meant to arouse a feeling, while from 1530 it meant to provoke or irritate; at the end of the 15th century it was also used in the literal sense of goading an ox.^[3] In the 16th century it entered medical language, with Ambroise Paré, for increasing the activity of a bodily function;^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg note that this medical use became especially common again from the early 19th century.^[4]

At the end of the 18th century it came to mean to increase someone's physical energy or mental powers (Féraud, 1788).^[2][7] In the 20th century medicine used it for triggering a muscular or nervous response artificially with a stimulus.^[3] Since about 1970 it has also been said of making the economy or another activity more active.^[3]

Timeline

• 1355 – Bersuire uses it for urging someone on.^[2]
• 1530 – It is recorded in the sense “provoke, irritate”.^[3]
• 1568 – Paré uses it of stimulating the bodily functions.^[2]
• 1752 – The present participle stimulant is first recorded, of a sharp pain.^[3]
• 1788 – Féraud records the sense “rouse the mind or faculties”.^[2]
• c. 1970 – It is applied to the economy.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To increase the energy or activity of someone, to spur or encourage them: stimuler les élèves timides.^[8][6]
2. To increase the activity of a bodily function: la marche stimule l'appétit.^[8][7]
3. To give fresh strength or ardour to someone; to invigorate.^[8][2]
4. (medicine) To trigger a muscular or nervous mechanism artificially by a stimulus.^[3][7]
5. To make an economic or other activity more active.^[3]

Word family

• stimulant

Related words

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