oxygène French · revision 15790

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound, coinage|attested=1783, principe oxygine|origins=grc ὀξύς, grc γένος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɔk.si.ʒɛn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''oxygène''' ''m'' (countable and uncountable, plural oxygènes)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Principe oxygine'' (1783), ''principe oxygène'' (1786), ''oxygène'' as a noun (1787).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was coined by Lavoisier from [[oxy-|t=acid]], from [[grc|ὀξύς|tr=oxús|t=sharp, sour, acid]], and [[-gène|t=producing]], from the root of [[m|grc|γένος|tr=génos|t=birth]] or [[m|grc|γεννάω|tr=gennáō|t=to produce]]: literally “acid-producing”, since it was thought to be part of every acid.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)^(Académie 9)^(FEW|7, 452b) Chemists at first hesitated between “oxygène” and “oxygine”, after [[la|gignō|t=to beget]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A memoir on the decomposition of water (1783) speaks of the ''principe oxygine''; in 1786 Fourcroy writes that Lavoisier calls vital air the ''principe oxygène'', or the principle “proper to engender acids”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As early as 1787 the word was used as a noun, in Guyton de Morveau's ''Méthode de nomenclature chimique'', which also introduced ''oxygéné''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Littré notes that the gas was discovered in 1774 by Priestley and Scheele, but that Lavoisier explained its part in combustion and breathing and gave it its name.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The verb ''oxygéner'' first meant “to combine with oxygen” (1789), a sense later taken by ''oxyder'', and then “to enrich with oxygen” (1824); ''eau oxygénée'' (1804) gave ''cheveux oxygénés'' and ''une blonde oxygénée'' (1900), bleached hair.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) By extension ''oxygène'' is fresh, healthy air, and figuratively something that revives: ''ballon d'oxygène'' (1913) is a lifeline.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1783 – ''Principe oxygine''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1786 – ''Principe oxygène'' (Fourcroy, after Lavoisier).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1787 – ''Oxygène'' as a noun^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992); ''oxygéné''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1804 – ''Eau oxygénée''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1835 – First recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 1900 – ''Oxygéner'' “to bleach hair”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1913 – ''Ballon d'oxygène'' (Alain-Fournier).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|oxygen|alt=Oxygen]] (symbol O), the gas that makes up about a fifth of the air: ''bouteille d'oxygène''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An oxygen atom in a [[m|en|molecule]].^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Fresh air; something that revives: ''ballon d'oxygène'', a lifeline.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[antioxygène]]

+ * [[oxygéner]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hydrogène]]

+ * [[oxyde]]

+ * [[en|oxygen]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}