égalité

Forms

égalité f (plural égalités)^[1] Old French oelté (12th century), equalité (about 1200), igauté and egauté (about 1280); Middle French esgallité (1503).^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is formed from French égal + -ité, and replaced the older forms of the word.^[2][3][1] These were oelté, the popular outcome of Latin aequālitās (“equality”) (from aequālis (“equal”)), and the learned forms equalité and igauté.^[2][3][4] The TLFi explains that the new form prevailed because it fitted the pattern of learned abstract nouns made from adjectives, as in féodalité and réalité.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF see it as a remaking of the learned form after the adjective;^[5][6][1] Wiktionary allows also a direct borrowing from Latin.^[5][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form égalité is first found in the first half of the 15th century, in Monstrelet's chronicle, in the phrase en l'égalité de “at the level of”.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

From 1503 it was used freely for the relation between two things that do not differ in size or quality.^[3][2] In mathematics it named an equation (Furetière, 1687, proportion d'equalité already in 1549).^[2][3]

Applied to people, it meant equal standing or conditions (Corneille, 1647); in the 18th century equality became a law of nature (1744), and the notion was often joined to that of liberté before and during the Revolution.^[3][2] During the Revolution (1789) égalité also replaced the name of the valet in card games, a use that did not outlive the period.^[3]

In the 17th century it came to mean constancy of character (Rotrou, 1639, Montaigne's equalité de meurs in 1580) and the steady flow of a style (1690); the sense “evenness of a terrain” (1835) is rare.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 12th century – The popular form oelté is recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 1200 – The learned equalité appears.^[2][3]
• c. 1280 – Igauté and egauté are found.^[2][3]
• 1400–1450 – En l'égalité de is used by Monstrelet.^[2]
• 1503 – Esgallité is found in free use.^[2][3]
• 1639 – Rotrou uses it for constancy of character.^[2]
• 1647 – Corneille uses it for equal conditions between people.^[2][3]
• 1687 – Furetière uses it in mathematics.^[2][7]
• 1744 – Nivelle de La Chaussée calls equality the law of nature.^[2][3]
• 1789 – Used in place of valet in card games.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being equal in quantity, value or size: égalité des parts.^[8][2]
2. (mathematics) An equation, two expressions joined by the sign =.^[2][6]
3. À égalité: level, tied in points.^[8][1]
4. (tennis, table tennis, volleyball) Deuce.^[1]
5. Equality of rights and conditions among people: l'égalité devant la loi.^[8][9]
6. (literary) Evenness, constancy of mood or character.^[2][8]
7. (rare) Evenness of a surface or terrain.^[2][3]

Word family

• égalitaire

Related words

• égal
• égaliser
• Latin aequālitās

Usage notes

Liberté, égalité, fraternité is the motto of the French Republic;^[1] sur un pied d'égalité means “on an equal footing”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 215b
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette