pensée French · revision 16570

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1176, Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès (pansée)|origins=la pendō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɑ̃.se/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pensée''' ''f'' (plural pensées)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''pansée'', ''pensée''; it replaced the older ''pense'' (feminine) and ''pens'' (masculine).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine past participle of [[penser]], used as a noun.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) “Penser” continues [[la|pēnsō|t=to weigh; to judge]], a frequentative of [[m|la|pendō|t=to weigh]], which must have taken the sense “to think” in late Latin; its /n/ shows a form kept by the written language, the popular development being [[peser]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The flower is the same word, the pansy being the emblem of remembrance.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Chrétien de Troyes' ''Cligès'' (1176) ''pansée'' is what one thinks; the Châtelain de Coucy (about 1200) has ''Tant est mes cuers plus près et ma pensée'' of a lover's devotion.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French it meant a wise reflection (''bone pansée'', end of the 12th century), meditation (1216), love (about 1200), the mind as the seat of thought (about 1200), a way of thinking (about 1215) and an idea that comes to mind (about 1220); ''estre en pensée'' meant to be worried (13th century).^(TLFi) The intellect itself, the faculty of thinking, is recorded by Monet in 1636, and Descartes made ''la pensée'' the principle of the mind as opposed to matter.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) A short, deep reflection in literary form is a ''pensée'' from Pascal's ''Pensées'' (1669).^(TLFi)

+

+ The flower ''pensée'' is found in Jean Lemaire de Belges (1512); the Petit Robert dates it to 1460.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) ''Couleur de pensée'', a purple, is recorded in 1634.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1176 – ''Pansée'', Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – Amorous attachment, the Châtelain de Coucy.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1220 – An idea, ''Anseïs de Carthage''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1512 – The flower, Jean Lemaire de Belges.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1587 – ''Arrière-pensée'' (once; again in 1798).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1634 – ''Couleur de pensée''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1636 – The faculty of thinking, Monet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1669 – Pascal's ''Pensées''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|thought]], the faculty of thinking; the mind: ''la pensée humaine'', ''dans ma pensée''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A thought, an idea: ''une pensée me vint'', ''lire dans les pensées''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # The thinking, ideas of a person or a school: ''la pensée de Descartes'', ''école de pensée''.^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)

+ # A maxim, a brief reflection: ''les Pensées de Pascal''.^(TLFi)

+ # A [[m|en|pansy]], a garden plant of the violet family.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[arrière-pensée]]

+ * [[libre-pensée]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[penser]]

+ * [[penseur]]

+ * [[pensif]]

+ * [[panser]]

+ * [[peser]]

+ * [[la|pēnsō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}