Etymologically
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système

Etymology and origin of the French word système

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1552, Pontus de Tyard
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (ἵστημι)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sis.tɛm/[1]

Forms

système m (plural systèmes)[1] Sisteme, sistême (until the early 18th century); the Académie wrote systeme (1694, 1718), système from 1740.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma, “organised whole; constitution; philosophical system”),[3][4][5][6] through Late Latin systēma (“assemblage”), in Late Latin chiefly a term of music;[2][4][1] the Greek is formed on συνίστημι (sunístēmi, “to place together, unite”), from “sun” “with” and ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to make stand”), from the Indo-European root “*stā-” of Latin stō (“to stand”).[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pontus de Tyard's Solitaire second (1552) says Je suis prest de vous monstrer la composition de ce Systeme, a whole whose parts are coordinated by a law.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In music it named an interval or series of intervals (1578, Vigenère).[3][2] Descartes (1633) used it of Galileo's System of the World, and, from the 1660s it spread in intellectual language for a body of doctrine (Le Système de l'âme, 1644), though Bouhours still found it not well established;[3][2][5] it also meant a set of practices aimed at a result (1690), the Académie defining it in 1694.[3][2] Pejorative uses followed: esprit de système (d'Alembert, 1751) and par système (Rousseau, 1762).[3][2] In economics le Système was Law's financial scheme (about 1720), and Rousseau (1762) used système politique.[2][3]

Furetière (1690) has it in anatomy for a set of similar parts, later système nerveux (Cabanis, 1808), whence the slang taper sur le système (1867).[3][2] The 18th and 19th centuries added the planetary system (1778), classification in natural history (Linnaeus) and the metric system (1792); système D “resourcefulness” dates from the First World War.[3][7]

Timeline

  • 1552 – Systeme in Pontus de Tyard.[3]
  • 1578 – A musical term, in Vigenère.[3]
  • 1633 – Galileo's Système du Monde, in Descartes.[3]
  • 1690 – Anatomy, in Furetière.[3]
  • 1720 – Law's Système.[2]
  • 1751 – Esprit de système.[3]
  • 1808 – Système nerveux in Cabanis.[3]
  • 1867 – Taper sur le système.[3]
  • Before 1918 – Système D.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A system (of thought), doctrine: un système philosophique, esprit de système.[8][9]
  2. A set of organised elements forming a whole: système solaire, système nerveux, système d'exploitation.[1][9]
  3. An organised set of practices or institutions: système politique, système éducatif, le système: the establishment.[9][2]
  4. A method, way: trouver un système, système D: resourcefulness.[9][3]
  5. A set of units: système métrique, (mathematics) a system of equations.[7]
  6. (geology) A system (period).[1]
  7. (slang) Taper sur le système: to get on someone's nerves.[3][1]

Word family

  • sous-système
  • systématique
  • systématiser
  • systémique
  • systématique
  • systématiser
  • systémique
  • station
  • Ancient Greek σύστημα (sústēma)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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
  4. ^ a b 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 503b
  7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Système.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/syst%C3%A8me. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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