On the Emergence of Purely Collective Predication

Abstract

This paper analyzes the semantic change undergone by the French adjective divers, from the interpretation it had in (pre )-Classical French, when it denoted a symmetric relation expressing non-similarity, to its interpretation in contemporary French, where it is a purely collective predicate. A difference is noted between purely collective predicates like (be) a large group or (be) numerous and purely collective predicates like (be) a (good) team or (be) diverse. The former characterize the collection they apply to as a whole, that is independently of the relations that obtain among its elements, whereas the latter characterize a collection precisely in terms of the relations that obtain among its elements. The diachrony of divers gives us some insight into how purely collective predicates of the latter kind come into being.