Etymology and origin of the French word surréalisme
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1917 Apollinaire More words from the 20th century
- Ultimate origin
- Late Latin reālis
Etymology tree
From the same root
Forms
surréalisme m (uncountable)[1]
Etymology
It is formed from French sur- + réalisme.[2][3][1] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert derive it rather from surréaliste.[4][5] The word is credited to Guillaume Apollinaire (1917), who is said to have had it from Chagall or from Pierre Albert-Birot.[4][6] The TLFi dates it from the 1918 preface of his play, Les Mamelles de Tirésias.[2]
réalisme belongs with réel, from Late Latin reālis.[7][6] It was borrowed into English as surrealism, at first in the French form (1927) and Englished by 1931.[8]
Earliest recorded meaning
Apollinaire used it for a surnaturalism: an art that turns away from imitative naturalism, gives free rein to imagination and mixes genres, the pathetic with the burlesque.[2][3] He explained it by the wheel, which imitates walking without resembling a leg.[3]
Semantic evolution
André Breton took up the word as the name of his movement in the Manifeste du surréalisme of 1924, defining it as a pure psychic automatism that expresses the real working of thought.[6][2][8] Since then it has stayed tied to that literary and artistic movement more closely than surréaliste, which passed into familiar speech for anything strange or absurd.[6]
The adjective surréalisant followed in 1936 (Aragon).[6]
Timeline
- 1917 – Apollinaire coins surréalisme in connection with Les Mamelles de Tirésias.[4][6]
- 1918 – The preface of the play is printed with the word.[2]
- 1924 – Breton's Manifeste du surréalisme makes it the name of a movement.[2][6]
- 1927 – Taken into English in the French form.[8]
- 1936 – Aragon forms surréalisant.[6]
Meanings
Noun
- Surrealism: the literary, artistic and intellectual movement launched by André Breton, which used automatic writing, dreams and the unconscious against the control of reason and received values.[5][2][3]
- (obsolete) In Apollinaire's use, an attitude that goes beyond appearances and the rules of reason.[3][2]
Related words
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 134a
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry
“Surréalisme.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/surr%C3%A9alisme. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.
Last edited on . ·