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totalisateur

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Etymology and origin of the French word totalisateur

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1869 Journal officiel More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
French totaliser,-ateur

Forms

totalisateur m (plural totalisateurs)[1] Feminine totalisatrice, used as an adjective.[2][3] Also totaliseur.[4][5]

Etymology

It is formed from French totaliser + -ateur.[6][2][7] The verb totaliser is itself from total, which Bloch and Wartburg trace to Medieval Latin tōtālis.[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as an adjective in the Journal officiel of 1 April 1869, in l'indicateur totalisateur de Watt, of a device that counts and adds up.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Used as a noun from 1870 (Gazette des tribunaux), it named an apparatus giving the total of a series of operations.[6][3] The DHLF dates from that year its use for the apparatus that adds up the bets on each horse in a race.[4] Littré's Supplément recorded the word with meters that add up mechanical work.[9][6]

From 1927–39 the adjective was also used figuratively of a mind or approach that tends to take everything into account.[6]

Timeline

  • 1869 – First recorded as an adjective in the Journal officiel.[6][8]
  • 1870 – First recorded as a noun, in the Gazette des tribunaux.[6][3]
  • 1927–39 – Abellio uses it in the figurative sense “taking the whole into account”.[6]
  • 1961 – Larousse records classeuse totalisatrice, an office sorting and adding machine.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a device: that records, counts and adds up a total.[6][10]
  2. (figurative) That tends to take the whole into account.[6][7]

Noun

  1. A totalizer, an apparatus giving the total of a series of operations.[6][5]
  2. (horse racing) A totalizator, the set of devices showing the public how many bets are placed on each horse.[5][7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
  7. ^ a b c Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
  8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Totalisateur.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/totalisateur. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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