trépidation

Forms

trépidation f (plural trépidations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin trepidātiō (“trembling, agitation, disorder”).^[2][3][4] The Latin noun is formed on trepidātum, the supine of trepidō (“to bustle about, tremble”), from trepidus (“agitated, anxious”).^[5][6][4] Rey links this Latin family, which expresses anxious, feverish agitation, to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *trep- for hurried movement such as trampling, perhaps related to the roots of tremō and terror.^[5]

The adjective trépidant comes from the present participle of the same Latin verb.^[3] It belongs with intrépide.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Drouart la Vache's Li livres d'amours (1290) has it in the sense “trembling, fright, fear”.^[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “fear, trembling” has gone out of use.^[5][7] In the 15th century Gerson glossed it as another word for fear.^[8] In 16th-century astronomy the trépidation was a supposed swaying of the firmament (Rabelais 1542, Montaigne).^[2][8]

Medicine used it from 1690 (Furetière) for a pathological trembling of the limbs or nerves, a use that spread in the first half of the 19th century.^[2][5] From 1788 it named the shaking of ground subject to small rapid shocks,^[5][7] and then the jolting of a steamship or an engine (1893), now its usual use.^[5][8] Figuratively it has meant an outer or inner agitation since 1839 (Balzac), and it is said of the bustle of city life.^[2][5][7]

Timeline

• 1290 – Drouart la Vache uses it for trembling and fear.^[2]
• 1542 – Rabelais uses it of the supposed trembling of the firmament.^[2][8]
• 1690 – Furetière records the medical sense.^[2][5]
• 1788 – Used of ground shaken by small rapid shocks.^[5][7]
• 1839 – Balzac uses it figuratively for agitation.^[2][5]
• 1893 – Used of the jolting of an engine.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rapid, jerky vibration or shaking, as of an engine, a vehicle or the ground.^[7][9][6]
2. (medicine) A pathological tremor with rapid, marked jerks.^[2][7]
3. (figurative) Lively agitation, bustle: la trépidation des grandes villes.^[9][7]
4. (obsolete) Trembling, fear.^[7][5]
5. (old astronomy) A supposed oscillation of the firmament.^[8][2]

Related words

• trépidant
• trépider
• intrépide
• Latin trepidus

References

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