unitaire

Forms

unitaire (plural unitaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French unité + -aire.^[2][3][4] The base noun is from Latin ūnitās, from ūnus (“one”).^[5] The TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg date the first record to Bossuet in 1688, while the Petit Robert and Rey give 1665.^[2][5][6][7] The related unitarien (1830) was formed after the English word unitarian.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as a noun in Bossuet (1688), naming a Socinian heretic who denies the Trinity and recognizes only one person in God.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective in this religious sense is recorded only in 1845, of Unitarian churches.^[2][7][6] In the sciences the adjective first described a crystal formed by a single decrease per row (1803, Boiste),^[8][7] and biology later spoke of unitary animals, which cannot be multiplied by division (1872).^[7]

Bonald used it in 1802 of societies in which a single power rules, and Balzac applied it from 1830 to what tends towards political unity; as a noun it named a partisan of political unity in Nerval (1855), and in the 20th century also of trade-union unity.^[2] Fourier wrote of prix unitaires in 1830, in the sense of what relates to one unit, a use that grew in the technical vocabulary of the 20th century, with théorie du champ unitaire (1930), vecteur unitaire (1961) and production unitaire (1964).^[2] The adverb unitairement is found in Péguy in 1900.^[7]

Timeline

• 1688 – Bossuet uses it as a noun for a heretic who denies the Trinity.^[2][5]
• 1802 – Bonald writes of societies ruled by a single power.^[2]
• 1803 – Boiste uses the adjective of a crystal.^[8][7]
• 1830 – Balzac uses it of political unity, and Fourier of unit prices.^[2]
• 1845 – The religious adjective is recorded.^[2][7]
• 1855 – Nerval uses les unitaires for partisans of political unity.^[2]
• 1930 – Théorie du champ unitaire is recorded.^[2]
• 1961 – Vecteur unitaire is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Forming a unity or tending towards unity.^[2][6]
2. (politics) Of or aiming at political unity; of a trade-union strategy or action that seeks united action: manifestation unitaire.^[2][6]
3. Relating to one unit within a set: prix unitaire “unit price”.^[2][6]
4. (mathematics) Vecteur unitaire, a vector of norm 1;^[2][6] anneau unitaire, a ring with a multiplicative identity.^[2][6]
5. (religion) Of the churches that deny the Trinity; Unitarian.^[2][6]

Noun

1. (religion) A Christian who denies the Trinity; a Unitarian, more usually unitarien.^[2][6]
2. (politics) A partisan of political or trade-union unity.^[2]

Word family

• unitairement

Related words

• unité
• unitarien
• unitarisme
• Latin ūnitās

References

1. ^ a b 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 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. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse