ventilation

Forms

ventilation f (plural ventilations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ventilātiō (“exposure to the air”), which in Late Latin also meant “winnowing of grain” and, figuratively, the separation of the good from the wicked at the Last Judgment.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is from ventilō (“to fan, winnow”), from ventus (“wind”).^{[5][6][7][1][8]}

The TLFi divides the senses: the sense of fanning and airing is the Latin borrowing, while the senses “disclosure”, “examination”, “valuation” and “distribution” were formed in French from the verb ventiler, whose legal sense “to debate, examine” goes back to Latin legal usage.^[4] The GLLF leaves both explanations open.^[3] Littré gives two headwords, one for airing and one for the legal valuation, each beside its own homonymous verb, but traces both to the Latin noun.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1382 as a legal term, probably for the examination of a case.^[2][3] The TLFi's first record is ventilacion in Philippe de Mézières's Songe du vieil pelerin (about 1389), meaning the revealing or making public of something.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word meant the examination or discussion of a matter (1549, Jean Lemaire de Belges).^[4] In law it came to mean “estimation” (1574, in Laurière's glossary of French law): the valuing of each part of a whole, as of goods sold together for one price; from this the 20th century made it a term of accounting and finance, the sharing of a sum among several accounts (1904, Nouveau Larousse illustré).^[4][2][6][3]

The physical sense, the fanning or cooling of something, is dated 1495 by the TLFi and 1531 by the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert;^[4][5][6][7] Paré lists refrigeration, ventilation et nutrition.^[4][5][6][7] The sense of renewing the air of an enclosed space, today the most common, is recorded in 1819 and was rare before then.^[4][2][6] Medicine added hyperventilation pulmonaire (1948), ventilation pulmonaire (1964) and ventilation assistée (1968).^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1382 – Recorded as a legal term.^[2][3]
• c. 1389 – Ventilacion “disclosure” in Philippe de Mézières.^[4]
• 1495 – Sense “fanning, cooling”.^[4][2]
• 1549 – Sense “examination, discussion”.^[4]
• 1574 – Legal sense “estimation”, in Laurière.^[4][2][6]
• 1819 – Airing of an enclosed space, in the Dictionnaire des sciences médicales.^[4][3]
• 1904 – Accounting sense “distribution among accounts”.^[4][3]
• 1968 – Ventilation assistée is recorded.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Ventilation, airing: the renewing of the air in an enclosed space: la ventilation du sous-sol est insuffisante.^[6][4][7][1]
2. The system or installation that circulates and replaces the air.^[1][4]
3. (technical) The production of a current of air for a physical or chemical process.^[6][3]
4. (medicine) Ventilation pulmonaire: the movement of air in and out of the lungs;^[6][4][3] ventilation assistée: artificial respiration by a machine.^[6][4][3]
5. (law) The valuation of each part of a whole in relation to the whole, as of the several goods sold for a single price.^[6][4][7]
6. (accounting) The apportionment of a sum among several accounts or headings: la ventilation des dépenses entre les services.^[6][4][3][1]

Related words

• ventiler
• ventilateur
• vent
• Latin ventilātiō
• Latin ventus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 l m n o p q r s t u v 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
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 252