tertiaire

Forms

tertiaire (plural tertiaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tertiārius (“containing a third, of a third”),^[2][3][1] from tertius (“third”).^[2][3][4] The geological term (1779) was formed on the model of primaire and secondaire.^[3][5][6] The religious sense, “member of a third order”, is a separate borrowing from Church Latin tertiārius, a specialization of the classical word, applied to the third order (ordō (“order”));^[2][3][7] it was first adapted as tierçaire (1690).^[2][7] The economic sense follows the English tertiary of English-speaking economists.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DHLF dates the religious word to 1641, for a member of a third order, a lay congregation affiliated with a religious order.^[3] The geological adjective is first found in 1779 in Horace-Bénédict de Saussure's Voyages dans les Alpes, in montagnes tertiaires.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In geology it was first applied to terrains and rocks formed in an era following those just named primary and secondary, and then to that era itself.^[3] Brongniart made the geological sense more precise in 1807,^[3][5] terrains tertiaires is found in Humboldt in 1823, période tertiaire in 1845–1846, and the noun le tertiaire in 1882.^[2][3]

Medicine took it for the third phase of a disease, especially of syphilis (1910).^[2][3] In economics it names, from about 1950, the sector of services, management and organization, set against the primary (agriculture) and secondary (industry) sectors: biens tertiaires is recorded in 1952 and secteur tertiaire in 1955.^[2][3] As a noun it also came to mean a person working in this sector (1959 according to the DHLF, 1968 according to the TLFi).^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1641 – Borrowed as a term of religion, for a member of a third order.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records the religious word in the form tierçaire.^[2][7]
• 1779 – Saussure writes of montagnes tertiaires.^[2][3]
• 1807 – Brongniart makes the geological sense more precise.^[3][5]
• 1812 – The religious noun is recorded as tertiaire.^[2][7]
• 1882 – Le tertiaire is used as a noun for the geological era.^[2][3]
• 1910 – Medicine applies it to the third stage of syphilis.^[2][3]
• 1952 – Fourastié writes of biens tertiaires in economics.^[2]
• 1955 – Secteur tertiaire is recorded.^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (geology) Of the Tertiary era, between the Secondary and the Quaternary;^[2][6] le Tertiaire: that era.^[2][6]
2. (medicine) Forming the third phase of a disease: une syphilis tertiaire.^[2][6]
3. (economics) Secteur tertiaire: the service sector of the economy, beside the primary and secondary sectors; also le tertiaire.^[2][6][3]
4. Occupying the third rank.^[4]

Noun

1. (Catholicism) A member of a third order, a lay congregation affiliated with a religious order.^[2][3]
2. (economics) A person who works in the service sector.^[2][3]

Word family

• tertiarisation

Related words

• tiers
• primaire
• secondaire
• quaternaire
• Latin tertius

Usage notes

The DHLF treats the religious word and the geological word as two separate entries, both borrowed from Latin tertiārius at different times.^[3] Littré also records it in botany for a branching of the third degree.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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 m n o p q r s t u v Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF