volatilité

Forms

volatilité f (plural volatilités)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French volatil + -ité as a learned derivative.^[2][1][3][4] The base, recorded from the 14th century, is from Latin volātilis (“flying, light, fleeting”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1641, in E. de Clave's Nouvelle lumière philosophique, as a term of physics for the readiness of a substance to turn into vapour.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Beside the physical sense, the word was used for extreme lightness or delicacy (1784, Bonnet, of the juices of the vine) and was applied to a light, fickle mind from 1845–46.^[2][6] In the 19th century chemistry defined it as the ability of solids and liquids to turn into vapour or gas, and Littré labelled the older physical sense as obsolete.^[7]

In the 20th century, following the matching sense of volatil, it entered the language of the stock exchange for the instability of a share's price;^[6] the GLLF dates this sense to 1975.^[5] Computing uses it for a memory that loses its data when the power is cut.^[2]

Timeline

• 1641 – First record, in physics, in E. de Clave.^[2][4]
• 1784 – Bonnet uses it for extreme lightness or delicacy.^[2]
• 1845–46 – Bescherelle records it of a light mind.^[2][6]
• 1975 – The financial sense is recorded by Larousse.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics, chemistry) The property of a substance that evaporates easily: la volatilité de l'alcool.^[8][2][9]
2. (finance, economics) Great instability of a share, a currency or a price.^[8][5]
3. (computing) The loss of stored data when a memory is switched off.^[2]
4. (rare, figurative) Extreme lightness or fickleness, as of a mind.^[2][5]

Related words

• volatil
• volatiliser
• volatilisation
• Latin volātilis
• English volatility

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a second volatilité (late 18th century, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre), from volatile “winged”, meaning the ability of seeds to be carried by the wind or of birds to fly.^[3][2] Rey notes that it has disappeared.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)