ange
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɑ̃ʒ/[1]
Forms
ange m (plural anges)[1] Old French angele (about 980), often altered to angle and angre, and angel (12th–14th centuries); ange appears in the 13th century and drove out angele in the 16th.[2][3][4]
Etymology
The Old French form angele is borrowed from Late Latin angelus (“messenger; angel”), a word of Christian Latin, from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger; messenger of God”), which was used to render the Hebrew word for “messenger” in the Bible (Exodus 23:20).[2][4][5] Rey calls the Greek word of unknown origin, probably borrowed from an Eastern language.[2] Bloch and Wartburg note that, as a word of the Church, its sound development was held back by the influence of written Latin;[4] Wiktionary treats it as inherited through Old French ange.[1] It is a doublet of angélus.[1]
Cognate with Romanian înger, Italian angelo, Occitan angel, Catalan àngel, Spanish ángel and Portuguese anjo.[3][6][7]
Earliest recorded meaning
Angele is found about 980;[2] in the Chanson de Roland an angel brings a vision (une avision d'angele).[6]
Semantic evolution
Beside the theological idea of a messenger between God and men, popular imagery made the angel a young, beautiful winged being.[2] By metaphor the word came to mean a perfect person, of a woman in the 16th century and then of a child, and a good, pious person (Pascal, 1657);[2] mon ange as a term of affection goes back to Malherbe in the early 17th century.[2]
Religious phrases took on everyday meanings: bon ange and mauvais ange (1550), and ange gardien “protector” (1564, Rabelais), recently also “bodyguard” (1968).[2] Rire aux anges dates from about 1600, être aux anges “to be overjoyed” from 1834, and un ange passe “a silence falls” from the mid-19th century (George Sand).[2] Faiseuse d'anges (1878) was a back-street abortionist, from the picture of angels as very young children.[2]
Timeline
- c. 980 – Angele.[2]
- c. 1100 – Angele and angle in the Chanson de Roland.[6]
- 13th century – The form ange.[2][3]
- 1550 – Bon ange, mauvais ange.[2]
- 1564 – Ange gardien “protector” (Rabelais).[2]
- 16th century – Ange replaces angele.[2]
- c. 1600 – Rire aux anges.[2]
- 1834 – Être aux anges.[2]
- 1878 – Faiseuse d'anges.[2]
- 1968 – Ange gardien “bodyguard”.[2]
Meanings
Noun
- (theology) An angel, a spiritual being acting as messenger between God and humankind: l'ange Gabriel, bons anges, mauvais anges.[3][8]
- Ange gardien: a guardian angel; figuratively a protector, also a bodyguard.[3][2]
- (figurative) A person of perfect goodness, gentleness or beauty, mon ange, a term of endearment.[2][3]
- Être aux anges: to be in raptures, un ange passe: there is an awkward silence.[2]
Word family
- angelot
- angélisme
Related words
- angélique
- angélus
- archange
- évangile
- Latin angelus
Usage notes
Ange is also a given name, as in Marie-Ange.[1] Pascal's saying qui veut faire l'ange fait la bête (“he who would act the angel acts the beast”) is from the Pensées.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse