Etymologically
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alerte

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.lɛʁt/[1]

Forms

alerte (plural alertes)[1] À l'herte (Rabelais), à l'airte (Montaigne), à l'erte; written as one word from the 16th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian all'erta (“on the height; on guard”), a soldiers' call to keep watch,[2][3][5][6] from erta (“steep slope, height”), the noun use of erto (“steep”), past participle of ergere (“to raise”), from Latin ērigō (“to raise, erect”), the source of ériger.[2][3][4] Spanish alerta is also from Italian.[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rabelais's Quart Livre (1552) has commenda tous estre à l'herte, ordered all to be on guard, as a storm approached.[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The interjection “on guard!” gave an adjective in the 16th century, first “vigilant, on the alert” (Carloix's se tenir allerte), now dated,[2][8][4] and then “lively, nimble” (un vieillard alerte, un esprit alerte).[2][9] The feminine noun appears in the 18th century (Buffon) for a warning signal, a call to vigilance like alarme;[3][2] it spread with fausse alerte, être en alerte and the air-raid alertes of the Second World War.[2][9] The verb alerter dates from 1918, during the First World War.[2]

Timeline

  • 1552 – Estre à l'herte in Rabelais.[8]
  • Late 16th century – À l'airte in Montaigne.[4]
  • 16th century – The adjective alerte.[3]
  • 18th century – The noun “alarm”, in Buffon.[3][10]
  • 1836 – Alerté in Stendhal.[2]
  • 1918 – The verb alerter.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An alert, warning signal of danger: donner l'alerte, alerte aérienne, fausse alerte.[9][11]
  2. En alerte, en état d'alerte: ready to act.[11][9]
  3. A warning sign of danger: à la première alerte.[11][10]
  4. Alerte !: look out!, to arms![9][5]

Adjective

  1. Lively, nimble, spry: une démarche alerte, un esprit alerte.[9][11]
  2. (obsolete) Vigilant, on one's guard.[8][9]

Word family

  • alerter
  • alerter
  • alertement
  • alarme
  • ériger
  • English alert

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 240a
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d 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
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)