allègre

Forms

allègre (plural allègres)^[1] Old French haliegre (the most frequent medieval form), alegre and aligre.^[2][3] Middle French allaigre and allegre;^[3] the spelling allègre is dated to 1538 by Rey.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French alegre, inherited from Latin alacer (“lively, quick”), through altered popular Latin forms.^[4][2][3][5] The Romance forms point to a Latin word stressed on its second syllable.^[4] The TLFi derives the form without ⟨i⟩ from Vulgar Latin *alacrum and haliegre from *alecrum;^[4][1] Bloch and Wartburg and Rey suppose a popular *alicer, genitive *alecris, which gave *alecrus.^[3][2] Littré already noted the difficulty: with the Latin stress on the first syllable the word should have become ⟨algre⟩ in French; he rejected Raynouard's derivation from ad and laetus.^[6]

The change of /kr/ to /gr/ is irregular; it is the same as in aigre and maigre, all adjectives of the semi-learned medical vocabulary describing the body's state, and the Old Occitan word may have had a part in it.^[4][1] The initial ⟨h⟩ of the medieval form is obscure: the TLFi thinks it perhaps expressive, or more probably due to haitié (“healthy”), with which it alternates in the pairing ⟨sain et haliegre⟩;^[4] Bloch and Wartburg, Rey and the GLLF mention a crossing with a Germanic word like German heil (“whole, healthy”).^[3][2][7] The modern form with ⟨è⟩, of the second half of the 15th century, may be due to Italian influence.^[4][2]

Cognate with Italian allegro, Old Occitan alegre (12th century) and Spanish alegre, the Spanish word being taken from Old Occitan.^[3][6] French allegro is the Italian word, borrowed as a musical term.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1130 in Le Couronnement de Louis, where li plus alegre are the fittest and most vigorous of a band of wounded warriors.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the adjective meant both “healthy, well” and “fit, nimble”, and at the same time “joyful, full of spirit”, the sense that won out.^[2] In the 15th and 16th centuries it was also used of things, meaning “pleasant”.^[2] Dictionaries from Richelet (1680) to Bescherelle (1845) label it familiar.^[4]

In modern French the sense of bodily vigour, especially in spite of age, is dated; the usual sense is lively, cheerful energy, of a person, a mind or a bearing.^[4][8] Used of things, for what gives an impression of gaiety, it is rare.^[4]

The noun allégresse (13th century) has kept its sense better than the adjective, although it moved from “vigour and spirit” to “expressed joy, jubilation”; it replaced allegrance, allegrie and allegreté.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1130 – Alegre “fit, lively” in Le Couronnement de Louis.^[4]
• 12th century – Haliegre is the usual Old French form.^[2][3]
• 13th century – The form aligre appears, and the noun alegrece (modern allégresse).^[2][3]
• 15th–16th centuries – It is also used of things, “pleasant”.^[2]
• 1538 – The spelling allègre is established.^[2]
• 1680 – Richelet labels it familiar.^[4]
• 1703 – allegro is borrowed from Italian as a musical term.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated) Of a person: sprightly, full of vitality in spite of age or difficulties: à quatre-vingts ans, il restait allègre.^[4]
2. Full of lively, cheerful energy, of a person, a mind or a manner: d'un pas allègre.^[8][9][4]
3. (rare) Of a thing: giving an impression of gaiety.^[4]

Word family

• allégresse
• allègrement

Related words

• alacrité
• allegro
• Latin alacer

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 g h i j k l m n o 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 287b
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)