sexe French · revision 16943

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 12th century, Roman d'Alexandre|origins=la sexus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɛks/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sexe''' ''m'' (plural sexes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|ses]] (late 12th century); ''sexe'' is a respelling after Latin (about 1265, Brunetto Latini).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|sexus|t=sex]], which was also used of plants;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|11, 560a) the older Old French form was borrowed too, then remade after the Latin.^(DHLF 1992) The origin of the Latin word is debated: it has been linked with [[m|la|secō|t=to cut, divide]], as naming the division of a species into males and females;^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary) the Grand Robert gives the stem of [[m|la|sectus|t=separation]].^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg note that the word was rare before the 16th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Compare [[pro|sexe]], [[es|sexo]] and [[it|sesso]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The GLLF finds ''ses'' in the ''Roman d'Alexandre'' (late 12th century) for the characters that distinguish men from women,^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) and Jean de Meun (1269–1278) speaks of ''.II. persones de divers sexe''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Modern dictionaries often date the sense “genitals” to about 1200 (''sex'', in the ''Dialogues'' of Gregory), but Rey thinks this probably a confusion; the sense becomes clear only about 1880, in Zola's ''Nana''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The whole of the characters and functions distinguishing male from female is in 1380, and the word was applied to plants in 1562.^(DHLF 1992) By metonymy it named the whole of men or of women: ''ce très doulx sexe femenin'' (about 1380), Rabelais's ''sexe fragil'' (1546), Garnier's ''sexe imbécile'' (1580), ''le beau sexe'' (about 1640), ''le sexe'' “women” (Malherbe, early 17th century), ''le sexe fort'' (Flaubert, 1857) and ''le sexe faible'' (1904).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Madame de Staël used ''troisième sexe'' (1817) for women thought to lack femininity.^(BHVF) ''Le sexe des anges'', of a futile question, dates from 1938.^(TLFi) The adjective [[sexuel]] (1742) is borrowed from Late Latin ''sexualis'', and [[sexualité]] dates from 1859.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – ''Ses''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * c. 1265 – The form ''sexe'', in Brunetto Latini.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1269–1278 – ''De divers sexe'', in Jean de Meun.^(TLFi)

+ * 1546 – ''Sexe fragil'', in Rabelais.^(TLFi)

+ * 1562 – Of plants.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1640 – ''Le beau sexe''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1742 – ''Sexuel''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1857 – ''Le sexe fort'', in Flaubert.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * c. 1880 – “Genitals”, in Zola.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1938 – ''Le sexe des anges''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|sex|alt=Sex]], the biological category of male or female: ''enfant du sexe masculin, féminin'', ''changement de sexe''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Men or women as a group: ''le sexe fort'', ''le sexe faible'', ''le beau sexe'', women, ''(archaic)'' ''le sexe'', womankind.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Sexuality; sex, sexual activity.^(Wiktionary)

+ # The sex organs, [[m|en|genitals]].^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Discuter du sexe des anges'': to argue about trivialities.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sexer]]

+ * [[sexage]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sexuel]]

+ * [[sexualité]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}