toxine

Forms

toxine f (plural toxines)^[1]

Etymology

The TLFi takes it as formed from French toxique + -ine, replacing the ending of the adjective “poisonous”.^[2][1][3] The name was first given by the German chemist Brieger in 1887 to some toxic ptomaines, tétanotoxine and thyphotoxine.^[2][4][3] The Petit Robert instead treats it as borrowed from English toxin, recorded in English in 1886, a date the TLFi also notes.^[5][2]

The adjective is from Latin toxicum (“poison”), from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón), the poison in which arrows were dipped, from τόξον (tóxon, “bow”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi first finds it in 1889, in a letter from Wysokowicz to Duclaux printed in the Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, for a poisonous substance produced by bacteria.^[2] The Grand Robert and the DHLF date it to 1894.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning widened from the toxic substances made by bacteria to any poison produced by a living organism, especially a pathogenic micro-organism, that can act as an antigen.^[3] The GLLF dates the sense “poison found in living organisms, such as snake venom” to 1896 (in Gautier) and the use for poisons secreted by plants to 1901 (Maeterlinck).^[7] Many learned compounds were later made from it.^[3] In the 20th century it also came to be used figuratively for a moral poison.^[7]

Timeline

• 1886 – Toxin is recorded in English.^[2][5]
• 1887 – Brieger names the ptomaines tétanotoxine and thyphotoxine.^[2][3]
• 1889 – Toxine appears in the Annales de l'Institut Pasteur.^[2]
• 1896 – A. Gautier uses it for poisons of living organisms.^[7]
• 1901 – Maeterlinck uses it for poisons secreted by plants.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine, biology) A poisonous (toxique) substance produced by a living organism (a bacterium, a fungus, a venomous animal) that gives it its power to cause disease.^[5][2][8]
2. A soluble poison produced by bacteria, which acts as an antigen: toxine tétanique, toxine diphtérique.^[7][2]
3. (figurative) A moral poison.^[7]

Related words

• toxique
• English toxin

References

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