Abstract
EARLY STEPS OF INDIVIDU: SCHOOL, NATURE AND POLICE It seems that Individu occupies a prominent position in the French socio-political system although its connotations are strongly contrasted : positive value attached to individual freedom or property, derogatory meaning for the Individu as refered to by police reports, for instance. However as a specific term, it appears much later than it is often believed by historians and sociologists. A sharper analysis of lexical specificity will reveal a change in internal semantic values and a transformation of the contextual lexical system, which inserts the Individu into new networks. Two landmarks appear in the course of this evolution : One is an ideological relay (The vocabulary of natural science extends and enrichies the socio-political vocabulary during the 2nd half of the 18th century). Individu will be used by Vitalists and not by Mechanists. The other is a linguistic relay, originating in the redefinition of debate on Freedom which shifts from a metaphysical to a political plane. The speech areas in which Individu occurs (Registry Office documents, trials, elections, civil rights) allows the delineation of the egalitarian seme which marks the strength and the weakness of Individu at the end of the 18th century.