versatile

Forms

versatile (plural versatiles)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin versātilis (“moving, turning easily, adaptable”), from versō (“to turn, turn over”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The TLFi and the DHLF date the borrowing to about 1330, Bloch and Wartburg to the 15th century.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Guillaume de Digulleville's Pèlerinage de vie humaine (about 1330) uses it of a two-edged sword, a sense found until the end of the 16th century.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1520 a translation of Suetonius uses it for “turning, that can be turned”, a sense later applied to the revolving scenery of the ancient theatre.^[2][3][4] Montaigne took up the Latin figurative sense in 1588, of the human mind, insatiable, vagabond et versatile “insatiable, wandering and changeable”.^[3][5][7] This sense, of a person who changes opinion easily, has become the usual one, in formal style.^[3]

From the mid-18th century (Buffon) it also had the learned meaning “changing over time”; in botany it describes a swinging anther (1809), and in zoology a bird's toe that can turn forwards or backwards.^[3][2][5] Under the influence of English, business jargon uses it for “adaptable”, and in Quebec French it is said of a person with varied talents.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – Digulleville uses it of a two-edged sword.^[2]
• 1520 – It means “that turns” in a translation of Suetonius.^[2]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses it figuratively of the mind.^[3][7][8]
• 1738 – The noun versatilité is recorded.^[6][3]
• Mid-18th century – Buffon uses it for “changing over time”.^[3]
• 1809 – It is used in botany of an anther.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fickle, changeable: quick to change opinion, side or mood: Les électeurs de cette ville se sont montrés versatiles.^{[7][9][10][11]}
2. (zoology) Of a bird's toe: able to turn forwards or backwards.^[2][5]
3. (botany) Of an anther: swinging on its filament.^[3]
4. (dated) Moving alternately one way and the other.^[2]

Word family

• versatilité

Related words

• verser
• Latin versātilis
• English versatile

Usage notes

The Académie française warns against using versatile for polyvalent “versatile, many-sided”, a use taken from English.^[11][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale