végétation

Forms

végétation f (plural végétations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin vegetātiō (“the growing of a plant”), a specialised sense of the classical noun meaning “movement, excitement”, from vegetō (“to animate, enliven”).^[2][3][4] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert instead derive it from végéter, after the Late Latin noun in the sense “animation”.^[5][6] Picoche places it in the family of the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“vigour”), with Latin vegeō (“to be lively”) and vegetus (“lively, alert”).^[7]

Littré compares Old Occitan vegetacio and Italian vegetazione.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1525 in Dadonville's Honneur des nobles, meaning “development”.^[2] Littré quotes La Noue in the 16th century for the power of growth.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, the life and growth of plants, is now rare.^[4][6] By analogy, in 1692 the word was applied to chemical formations shaped like trees, such as the “Tree of Diana”.^[2][4] By metonymy it came to mean all the plants growing in a place (1749, Buffon), and then the plants spread over the surface of the globe.^[2][4] Figuratively it was also the state of a person who lives like a plant (1782, Madame de Genlis), a sense since lost.^[2][4]

In medicine it named a fleshy growth on a wound in 1806, and later a papilloma of the skin or a mucous membrane; from 1914 the plural végétations is used especially of the adenoids.^[2][4] English took vegetation in the 1560s from French and Medieval Latin, and used it for plant life in general by 1727.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1525 – Dadonville uses it for “development”.^[2]
• 1560s – English borrows vegetation.^[9]
• 1692 – It names a chemical formation of tree-like shape.^[2][4]
• 1749 – Buffon uses it for the plants of a place.^[2][4]
• 1782 – Madame de Genlis applies it to a person who lives like a plant.^[2]
• 1806 – A dictionary of medicine uses it for a fleshy outgrowth.^[2][4]
• 1914 – The plural végétations is used in pathology.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) The life and growth of plants: en pleine végétation, in full growth.^[6][2]
2. The plants growing in a place, plant cover: La végétation de cette île est très dense.^[6][8]
3. The plants spread over the earth according to climate and soil, as studied by botanical geography: zones de végétation.^[6]
4. A natural formation, such as a crystallization, that reproduces the shapes of plants.^[6][2]
5. (pathology) A papilloma of the skin or a mucous membrane, in the plural especially the adenoids (végétations adénoïdes).^[6][4]

Related words

• végéter
• végétal
• végétatif
• Latin vegetātiō

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 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. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com