univers

Pronunciation

• IPA: /y.ni.vɛʁ/^[1]

Forms

univers m (countable and uncountable, invariable)^[1]

Etymology

As a noun it is borrowed from Latin ūniversum (“the whole; the universe”), the neuter used as a noun of ūniversus (“whole, entire”), literally “turned so as to form one whole”, from ūnus (“one”) and versus, the past participle of vertō (“to turn”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Latin noun translated Ancient Greek τὸ ὅλον (tò hólon, “the whole”).^[3]

Before it, an adjective of the same form, “whole, entire”, from the same Latin adjective, was used from the 12th to the 16th century, as in phrases for “the whole world” (about 1175) and in Rabelais's “universal empire”;^[2][3][5][7] Rey thinks it helped the noun to spread.^[2][3][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun appears about 1530 in Marot (par l'univers, le monde me lira), meaning the whole inhabited earth.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Ronsard (1550) and the 1553 Bible l'univers meant the people of the earth, a sense common in the 17th century and now dated.^[2][3] Ronsard also has it for all that exists (1550), and Montaigne (1588) for all the systems of planets and stars.^[2] The idea of the universe changed with astronomy, from a system centred on the earth or the sun to the immense, expanding universe of modern physics (expansion de l'Univers, 1948).^[3][2]

Figuratively it has meant a closed world of feelings or ideas (Ronsard 1552, rare before Marivaux in 1722), the place where one lives (La Fontaine, 1671), and what is everything to someone (1758).^[2][3] In logic, univers du discours (1932) was taken from English universe of discourse.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – Adjective in universe monde, in Thomas of Kent.^[2]
• c. 1530 – The noun, in Marot.^[3]
• 1550 – “Mankind” and “all that exists”, in Ronsard.^[2]
• 1588 – The systems of stars and planets, in Montaigne.^[2]
• 1671 – One's own world, in La Fontaine.^[2]
• 1932 – Univers du discours in logic.^[2]
• 1948 – Expansion de l'Univers.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The universe: everything that exists; in science, all matter in space and time: l'expansion de l'Univers.^[8][9]
2. The world, the societies of the earth: un citoyen de l'univers.^[8][9]
3. (dated) The surface of the earth; the people living on it.^[8][4]
4. One's own world, the setting or field to which one's life is limited.^[2][8]
5. (logic, statistics) The whole set of elements under study: univers du discours.^[2][10]

Related words

• universel
• université
• un
• Latin ūniversus

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 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 g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 53a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse