moment French · revision 16327

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1119, Philippe de Thaon, Comput|origins=la moveō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɔ.mɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''moment''' ''m'' (plural moments)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|mōmentum|t=movement, impulse; weight that tips a balance; influence; instant]], contracted from “*movimentum”, from [[m|la|moveō|t=to move]] (see [[mouvoir]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|6/3, 61a) The Latin word meant “impulse, movement, change” and the weight that sets a balance moving, hence “decisive cause, influence”; since that weight is usually small, it also came to mean “a particle, a small division”, especially of time.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The scientific sense “product of a force by its lever arm” was borrowed again from Latin in 1634, in Mersenne's French version of Galileo, who used [[it|momento]], English has “momentum” (1699) and “moment” (1706) in this sense.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg explain “moment psychologique” as a calque of German “psychologisches Moment”, with the scientific sense, used to justify the bombardment of Paris in 1870, but understood in French as a point in time.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1119 in Philippe de Thaon's ''Comput'', as a very small division of time: ''Momenz e atometes''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of the senses of the Latin word French kept mainly the temporal one, first “a very short space of time”, then a stretch of time of undefined length (1604).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The word was rare until the 17th century, when it became common.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Dernier moment'' “the time before death” dates from 1635, “occasion, circumstance” from 1654–1659, and “the present time” (''l'impulsion du moment'') from about 1770 (Rousseau); “phase of a development” is Taine's (1863).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ Many phrases arose: ''en un moment'' (about 1160), ''dans un moment'' (1664), ''à tout moment'' (1665–1690), ''d'un moment à l'autre'' (1694) and ''pour le moment'' (1755), with the conjunctions ''du moment que'' (1655) and ''au moment où'' (late 17th century).^(DHLF 1992) In physics came ''moment d'inertie'' (1786) and ''moment d'une force'' (1811).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1119 – ''Momenz'' in Philippe de Thaon's ''Comput''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1604 – A stretch of time of indefinite length.^(TLFi)

+ * 1634 – The term of mechanics, in Mersenne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1635 – ''Dernier moment'' in Corneille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1655 – ''Du moment que''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1755 – ''Pour le moment''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1770 – “The present time”, in Rousseau.^(TLFi)

+ * 1786 – ''Moment d'inertie''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1870 – ''Moment psychologique'' in the Goncourts' ''Journal''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|moment]], an instant: ''Attendez un moment.''^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A while, a stretch of time: ''un bon moment'', ''passer un bon moment''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # The right time, an [[m|en|opportunity]]: ''C'est le moment'', ''le moment venu''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The present time: ''en ce moment'', ''pour le moment'', ''le succès du moment''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A phase or stage of a development.^(TLFi)

+ # ''Au moment où'': when, ''du moment que'': since, as long as.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(physics)'' A moment: ''le moment d'une force'', ''moment d'inertie''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[instant]]

+ * [[momentané]]

+ * [[mouvoir]]

+ * [[la|mōmentum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}