Etymology and origin of the French word âpreté
- Confidence
- Probable
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1190 Sermons de saint Bernard More words from the 12th century
- Ultimate origin
- Latin asper
Etymology tree
From the same root
Forms
âpreté f (plural âpretés)[1] Old French aspreteit (1190), aspreté.[2][3][4]
Etymology
It is formed from French âpre + -té, after asperitās (“roughness”).[5][6][7] Rey describes it as the Latin derivative given a French shape, and Picoche counts it among the popular words of the family of asper (“rough, rocky”).[7][8] Wiktionary instead treats it as inherited from the Latin noun.[1] Old French also had aspreur and aspresse in the same sense.[3]
The learned borrowing of the same Latin word is aspérité, and the two share out the senses between them.[7][2] Compare Old Occitan aspretat and Italian asprità.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found as aspreteit in the Sermons de saint Bernard (1190), of the harshness of a medicine: Si tu redotes l'aspreteit de la medecine “if you fear the harshness of the medicine”.[6][2][3]
Semantic evolution
In Middle French it could mean the unevenness of a surface or a rough patch on it.[4] It was used of a rough road in the 14th century and again from the 16th to the 19th.[7][6] It was applied to the climate from 1564, a use that survives, and to taste, its liveliest use, from 1539 for wine and 1680 for fruit.[7]
Today it is mostly literary for an unpleasant harshness of a country or the weather, and abstractly for the hard or violent character of a person, a struggle or a reproach.[7][9]
Timeline
- 1190 – Aspreteit in the Sermons de saint Bernard.[2][6]
- 13th century – The Roman de la Rose has aspreté of the heat.[3]
- 14th century – It is used of a rough road.[7]
- 1539 – First used of the taste of wine.[7]
- 1564 – First used of the climate.[7]
- 1680 – First used of the taste of a fruit.[7]
Meanings
Noun
- (literary, dated) Unpleasant harshness, of a landscape, the weather or the climate: l'âpreté des hivers de montagne.[9][6][10]
- (obsolete) The roughness of an uneven surface or road.[6][3]
- Sharpness of a taste, a smell or a sound: l'âpreté d'un cidre.[9][6]
- (figurative) Hardness or violence of character, words or a struggle: l'âpreté d'un débat.[9][6]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
- ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
- ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
Cite this entry
“Âpreté.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/%C3%A2pret%C3%A9. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.
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