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transcendance

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Etymology and origin of the French word transcendance

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1596 Pasquier, Recherches More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Latin transcendō

Forms

transcendance f (plural transcendances)[1] Older spelling transcendence (1605, 1640).[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French transcendant + -ance.[2][3][4] The adjective is a learned borrowing of the scholastic Latin transcendens, the present participle of transcendō (“to climb over, surpass”).[2][5] Picoche groups it with ascendance and transcender in the family of scandō (“to climb”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pasquier's Recherches use it in 1596 for an “excess”; the philosophical sense, the character of what is transcendant, is first found in 1605 in Marnix, spelled transcendence.[2]

Semantic evolution

The philosophical term is isolated at first and was taken up again in the 19th century.[7][8] Opposed to immanence, it names the character of what lies beyond a given domain and is of another nature, as God in relation to the world; in 20th-century philosophy it also names the act of transcending, or of transcending oneself, and the transcendent reality itself.[2][4][8]

Under the influence of the adjective, it took the everyday sense of a marked superiority of one person over another, recorded in the Mercure de France in 1735; this sense is now dated.[2][7][4] Littré also gave the sense “affected superiority”.[9]

Timeline

  • 1596 – Pasquier uses it for “excess”.[2]
  • 1605 – Marnix uses transcendence as a philosophical term.[2][4]
  • 1640 – Oudin's Italian–French dictionary records transcendence.[2][5]
  • 1735 – The Mercure de France uses it for a person's superiority.[2][8]
  • 1872 – Littré records the philosophical sense.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (philosophy) The character of what is transcendent, lying beyond and above a given domain, as opposed to immanence: la transcendance de Dieu.[4][2][10]
  2. (philosophy) Transcendent reality, the existence of transcendent realities.[4][8][10]
  3. The act of transcending or of transcending oneself.[4][10]
  4. (dated) Marked superiority, excellence.[4][9]
  • transcendant
  • transcender
  • transcendantal

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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
  7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Transcendance.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/transcendance. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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