adjudant

Forms

adjudant m (plural adjudants, feminine adjudante)^[1] Early forms adjudan (1671), ajudant (Furetière 1701) and ayudant;^[2][3][4] ajutant (1693, Oudin) was taken separately from Italian aiutante.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish ayudante (“assistant, subordinate officer”), a derivative of ayudar (“to help”).^[2][5][3][6] The Spanish verb comes from Latin adiūtō, the frequentative of adiuvō (“to help”).^[2][5] The ⟨d⟩ of the French word is a learned remodelling: the TLFi puts it down to the Latin frequentative,^[2] Rey and Bloch and Wartburg to the simple verb.^[5][3]

The Latin verbs also gave aider and adjuvant.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1671 as adjudan “assistant gunner”, in a treatise by Arnoul printed among Colbert's letters: trois adjudans de cannoniers.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It first meant a military assistant and then a subordinate officer of high rank assisting a superior; in 1701 Furetière noted that the word was used only in foreign countries.^[2][3][5] The modern sense of a non-commissioned officer dates from 1776, though the older one was still in use early in the 19th century.^[3][6]

Compounds named several ranks: adjudant-major (1790), adjudant général (1818), adjudant-sous-officier (1825) and adjudant-chef (Larousse 1922), the only one still in common use beside adjudant itself.^[5] In the 19th century the word took on overtones of narrow, petty authority, and it has slang equivalents such as juteux and adjupète (1895).^[5][7] By a pun it was also slang for an enema (1881).^[5]

Timeline

• 1671 – Adjudan “assistant gunner” in a treatise by Arnoul.^[2]
• 1693 – Oudin has ajutant, from Italian.^[2]
• 1701 – Furetière records ajudant “aide-de-camp”.^[2][3]
• 1740 – Voltaire writes adjudant général of a Prussian officer.^[2]
• 1776 – The sense “non-commissioned officer” appears.^[3][6]
• 1790 – Adjudant-major is recorded.^[5]
• 1874 – It is used for a kind of stork.^[8]
• 1895 – The popular form adjupète is recorded.^[5]
• 1922 – Larousse records adjudant-chef.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A non-commissioned officer of the French army and air force, ranking above the sergent-chef, who assists the officer in command of a company: a warrant officer.^[2][7][1]
2. (pejorative) A fussy, authoritarian and narrow-minded boss.^[7]
3. Adjudant-chef: the next rank above adjudant.^[7][4]
4. (historical) An officer who assisted a superior officer, an adjutant.^[4][9]
5. (ornithology) The adjutant stork.^[8]

Word family

• adjudant-chef
• adjudant-major

Related words

• aider
• adjuvant
• Spanish ayudante

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette