matériel French · revision 38668

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1270, Mathieu le Vilain|origins=la māteria}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ma.te.ʁjɛl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''matériel''' ''m'' (plural matériels)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and Middle French also had [[m|fro|material]] (about 1300), closer to the Latin; its plural survives as [[matériaux]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-lat|māteriālis|t=made of matter; material]], a Late Latin and scholastic derivative of [[la|māteria|t=matter, stuff; timber]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|6/1, 484b) Wiktionary instead treats the word as inherited through Old French [[m|fro|materiel]], and traces the Latin noun further to [[m|la|māter|t=mother]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|materiale]], [[oc|material]] and [[es|material]].^(Littré 1873) In 1814 the French noun gave [[m|en|materiel]], a later borrowing of the same word that had earlier given [[m|en|material]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1270, in Mathieu le Vilain's translation of Aristotle's ''Meteorologica'', as a term of scholastic philosophy: ''cause materiel'', the material cause, as opposed to the formal cause.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Medicine also spoke of a ''cause matérielle'' (1314, Henri de Mondeville), as opposed to a predisposing cause.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the early 14th century the adjective took the sense “made of matter”, first of ordinary fire as opposed to heavenly fire, then more generally in contrast with the spiritual (about 1360); from 1458 it could also mean “heavy, gross”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The everyday sense “expressed in or through matter, concrete” dates from 1677 (Bossuet); in the 19th century the word came to describe the outward aspects of things (1858) and the practical needs of life (1804), as in ''vie matérielle'', shortened in familiar speech to ''la matérielle'' (1880), the means of subsistence.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ As a noun, ''le matériel'' long meant in philosophy what is perceived by the senses (about 1300, ''material'').^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) It took its modern collective sense, the equipment needed for an activity, only in 1822, in a military context.^(DHLF 1992) ''Matériel roulant'' (rolling stock) is recorded in 1867, and in 1974 ''matériel'' was adopted in computing to translate English ''hardware''.^(DHLF 1992) The clipped slang form [[matos]] appears in writing in 1972.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1270 – ''Cause materiel'' in Mathieu le Vilain.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1300 – The noun form ''material''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1314 – A medical sense, in Henri de Mondeville.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1360 – Opposed to “spiritual”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1458 – “Heavy, gross”, in Arnoul Gréban.^(TLFi)

+ * 1677 – The current sense “concrete”, in Bossuet.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1814 – English borrows the noun as ''materiel''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1822 – The noun in its modern sense “equipment”, in a military context.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1880 – ''La matérielle'', the means of subsistence.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1974 – ''Matériel'' for computer hardware.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(philosophy)'' Relating to matter as opposed to form: ''cause matérielle''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+ # Made of [[m|en|matter]], physical as opposed to spiritual: ''le monde matériel''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # Concrete, actually possible or needed: ''je n'ai pas le temps matériel de finir''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Relating to the outward, practical side of things: ''une erreur matérielle'', a clerical error.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Relating to money, goods and the needs of daily life: ''des dégâts matériels'', ''des soucis matériels''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(pejorative)'' Too attached to physical comforts and [[m|en|material]] things.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|equipment|alt=Equipment]], the set of objects and tools needed for an activity: ''le matériel de camping''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(computing)'' [[m|en|hardware|alt=Hardware]].^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(railways)'' ''Matériel roulant'': rolling stock.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(social sciences, psychoanalysis)'' The data or material submitted to analysis.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[matériellement]]

+ * [[matérialité]]

+ * [[matos]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[matière]]

+ * [[matériau]]

+ * [[la|māteria]]

+ * [[en|materiel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}