affoler

Forms

affoler^[1] Old French afoler.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French a- + fol (“mad”), the old form of fou.^[2][3][4][5] Old French also had the simple verb foler “to be or become mad, to behave like a madman”.^[6] That adjective is from Latin follis (“bellows, bag, ball”), which in jest came to mean “fool”, a person likened to a ball full of air.^[7]

Littré compares Occitan afolir.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1174, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique, meaning “to drive mad”: Tot apertement nos afoles “You are plainly driving us mad”.^[2] Rey gives the early senses “to drive mad”, “to commit follies” and, intransitively, “to go mad”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

With a weakening of meaning, affoler came to mean to make someone lose his head under a violent emotion, and in particular, now dated, to make someone madly in love (1845);^[6] Molière already has être affolé de someone, “to be madly in love with”.^[3] Its common modern sense is to fill with fear or worry, and the reflexive s'affoler to lose one's head, to panic.^[4][8]

It is also a technical word for setting a part of a mechanism free, whence s'affoler “to go wrong, to race”.^[6] At sea, a compass needle that pointed badly was affolée from 1690 (Furetière), and Littré records affoler “to disturb the magnetic needle” in 1863.^[2][6] In horticulture it was used of anemones that put out leaves without flowering (1842).^[2]

Timeline

• 1174 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses afoler “to drive mad”.^[2][6]
• 1217 – The noun affolement appears.^[6]
• 16th century – Montaigne and Amyot use affolé of people mad with passion.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière records aiguille affolée of a faulty compass needle.^[2][6]
• 1694 – The variant affolir “to go mad” is recorded.^[6]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement records its use of anemones.^[2]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the intransitive “to become passionate to the point of madness”.^[2]
• 1863 – Littré records affoler a compass needle.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drive someone wild, as if mad, under the effect of a violent emotion.^[4][8][2]
2. To fill with fear or worry, to terrify: la nouvelle a affolé les habitants.^[4][8][1]
3. (literary, dated) To make madly in love: être affolé de someone.^[3][5][6]
4. (physics, navigation) To disturb the needle of a compass: affoler une boussole.^[2][5]
5. (horticulture, intransitive) Of anemones, to put out leaves without flowering.^[2]
6. S'affoler: to lose one's head, to panic: ne t'affole pas.^[4][8]
7. S'affoler (informal): to hurry up.^[1]

Word family

• affolement
• affolant
• raffoler

Related words

• fou
• folie
• Latin follis

Usage notes

Old French also had a verb afoler “to wound gravely” (1160–1174, Wace), later “to harm” and “to kill”, formed from Old French foler “to oppress, maltreat”, from Vulgar Latin *fullō, the source of fouler.^[2][9][10] Littré gives it as a separate headword, “to wound, damage, harm”, fallen out of use;^[5] Furetière called it old in 1690, and Richelet in 1680 called its use in the language of love old and comic.^[2] The TLFi notes that the two verbs seem to have influenced each other, especially in the vocabulary of love.^[2] The variant affolir “to go mad” is no longer used.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 847a
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)