visionnaire

Forms

visionnaire (plural visionnaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French vision + -aire.^[2][1][3][4] The noun is from Latin vīsiō (“act of seeing”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, about 1610 in François de Sales, is the adjective in propheties visionnaires, “prophecies arising from visions”.^[2][5] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF date it to 1620,^[4][6] the Grand Robert to 1637.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In 1637 Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin called a comedy Les Visionnaires: the TLFi reads the word there as “people with mad ideas”,^[2] while Rey dates from that year the sense “person who has, or believes he has, supernatural visions”, which the TLFi first finds in Pomey's dictionary of 1671.^[5][2] As a noun it was first pejorative (1638), and the adjective meant “full of extravagant ideas” from 1680.^[5]

That old sense gave way to a favourable one: from 1770 a visionary was someone who conceives grand, utopian plans.^[5][6] Hugo wrote of ton œil visionnaire in 1837, of the faculty itself,^[2][5] and in 1859 Baudelaire used the noun of people able to foresee the future,^[2] the sense that is usual today.^[5][7]

Timeline

• c. 1610 – François de Sales uses the adjective in propheties visionnaires.^[2]
• 1637 – Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin's comedy Les Visionnaires.^[2][5]
• 1638 – First record as a noun, with a pejorative value.^[5]
• 1671 – Pomey records “person who has or believes he has visions”.^[2]
• 1680 – The adjective means “full of extravagant ideas”.^[5]
• 1770 – It is applied to people with grand, utopian plans.^[5][6]
• 1837 – Hugo writes ton œil visionnaire.^[2]
• 1859 – Baudelaire uses the noun of people able to anticipate the future.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who has, or believes he or she has, supernatural visions or revelations, a seer.^[2][7][8]
2. A person who anticipates the future or conceives bold ideas, a visionary.^[2][7][1]
3. (dated) A person with mad, extravagant ideas.^[8][7]

Adjective

1. Having, or believing one has, visions: un moine visionnaire.^[6][8]
2. (literary) Able to anticipate the future: un romancier visionnaire.^[7][5]
3. (classical) Extravagant, chimerical.^[6][8][7]

Related words

• vision
• visionner

References

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