What is ‘Plurisecular’? – Meaning and Translation

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Here's a quote from Robert Hurley's translation of Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality arguing for the historical importance of the anonymous author of My Secret Life:

…he was the most direct and in a way the most naïve representative of a plurisecular injunction to talk about sex.

I've been searching for this word on Google, but it's giving me only translations, not an explanation, and I don't know the languages it provides me translations for.

Does anybody know what this word means?

Best Answer

In short, it means centuries-old or age-old.

It's formed from the prefix pluri and the word secular.

Both from Merriam-Webster.

pluri-:

: many : having or being more than one : MULTI-
// pluriaxial [having more than one axis]
// plurilocular [divided into chambers]

secular:

3 a : occurring once in an age or a century
3 b : existing or continuing through ages or centuries
3 c : of or relating to a long term of indefinite duration
        // secular inflation

Secular has other senses, mostly related to things that are of the material world, or not religious, but in the sense used for this combined word it's this one.

From a translation by Linguee between Spanish and English (emphasis mine):

[...] le competen las tareas y los honores que por antigua tradición y Estatuto se reconocen a esta plurisecular magistratura.

[...] and is vested with the rights and honours to which this centuries-old magistracy is entitled to by tradition and under the Charter.

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