mobile French · revision 15900

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1301, bien meuble|origins=la moveō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɔ.bil/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mobile''' (plural mobiles)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|mōbilis|t=movable; changeable, fickle]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|6/3, 3a) a contraction of “*movibilis”, from [[m|la|moveō|t=to move]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) The same Latin word, inherited, gave [[meuble]], of which “mobile” is a learned doublet.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary) In Latin “res mobiles” were movable goods, and Late Latin had the noun “mobile”, plural “mobilia”, Scholastic Latin had “mobile primum”, the outermost heavenly sphere (about 1250).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A Breton ordinance of 1301 has the noun ''mobile'' “movable property”, an isolated use;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the adjective, “that can be moved”, appears in Oresme's ''Livre du ciel et du monde'' (1377).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In medieval astronomy ''premier mouvable'' (about 1380) gave way to ''mobile premier'' (1448) and ''premier mobile'' (1516), calques of the Latin;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) from these came ''mobile'' for the prime mover of an action: the leading spirit of a war (1662), and ''premier mobile'' “what impels someone to act” (La Fontaine, 1682).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The Académie has ''mobile'' alone in 1740, and it became the usual word for a motive, especially in law (''le mobile du crime'', 1883).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) A body in motion is a ''mobile'' from 1639 (Mersenne, after Galileo), and Sartre's ''Les Mobiles de Calder'' (1946) took up the name, given by Marcel Duchamp to Calder's sculptures in 1932.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The adjective was applied to printing type (''caractères mobiles'', 1751), to movable feasts (''fête mobile'', 1636) and to the sliding scale of wages (''échelle mobile'', 1952);^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) militarily it gave ''colonne mobile'' (1823), ''garde mobile'' (1829) and ''gendarmerie mobile'' (1877).^(TLFi) From 1448 it also meant “changeable, fickle”, and, from 1749 “always moving” (Buffon's ''la face mobile de la mer'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Today ''un mobile'' is also a mobile phone, short for ''téléphone mobile''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1301 – ''Mobile'' “movable property”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1377 – The adjective, in Oresme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1448 – ''Mobile premier'', “changeable”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1509 – ''Mobilier''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1636 – ''Fête mobile''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1639 – “Body in motion”, in Mersenne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1682 – ''Premier mobile'' “motive”, in La Fontaine.^(TLFi)

+ * 1740 – ''Mobile'' “motive”, in the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 1829 – ''Garde mobile''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1946 – ''Les Mobiles de Calder'' in Sartre.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|mobile|alt=Mobile]], movable: ''pièce mobile'', ''cloison mobile'', ''téléphone mobile''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Variable: ''fête mobile'', ''échelle mobile des salaires''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(military)'' Mobile: ''colonne mobile'', ''garde mobile''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # Always moving, changing: ''un visage mobile'', ''population mobile''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|motive]]: ''le mobile du crime''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(physics)'' A moving body.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A mobile (hanging sculpture or decoration).^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A mobile phone.^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mobilier]]

+ * [[immobilier]]

+ * [[mobiliser]]

+ * [[automobile]]

+ * [[mobilité]]

+ * [[immobile]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[meuble]]

+ * [[mouvoir]]

+ * [[moteur]]

+ * [[la|mōbilis]]

+ * [[en|mobile]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}