ardent

Forms

ardent (feminine ardente, masculine plural ardents, feminine plural ardentes)^[1] Old French ardenz, ardant and ardanz.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ardēns (“burning”), the present participle of ardeō (“to be on fire, burn”).^[4][2][5] Bloch and Wartburg treat the modern word as a borrowing that carries on the Old French ardant, the present participle of the inherited verb ardoir or ardre, which survives in some dialects.^[4] Picoche, on the other hand, lists the word as a popular word of the 12th century,^[6] and Wiktionary describes it as inherited from Old French.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan ardent and Italian ardente.^[3] The Latin verb also gave Italian ardere, Spanish arder and Old Occitan ardre.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Académie dates the form ardenz to the 10th century, meaning “burning, bright, lively”,^[2] and Godefroy's earliest quotation is Tal a regard cum focs ardenz (“he has a look like a burning fire”).^[7] The Chanson de Roland has Les treiz enfanz tout en un four ardant (“the three children all in a burning furnace”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was literal: something on fire, or lit, as in 13th-century cirges ardanz “burning candles”.^[3][7] Already in the 12th century the word was used of love, a lover being more ardans than fire,^[3] and by the 14th century of eager desire, as in being ardent to acquire riches.^[3] Godefroy records the senses “fire-coloured” and “full of fire, of passion” in Old French.^[7]

The phrase mal des ardents (first as ardanz) named sufferers of gangrenous erysipelas,^[4] a disease of the Middle Ages now attributed to ergotism.^[8] In modern French the literal sense survives mainly in set expressions such as charbons ardents, buisson ardent (the burning bush of Moses), chapelle ardente and chambre ardente, a criminal court of the Ancien Régime that could sentence to the stake.^[9][2] The figurative sense “full of fire, fervent, passionate” is now the usual one.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 10th century – Ardenz “burning, bright, lively” is recorded.^[2][5]
• 11th century – The Chanson de Roland speaks of a four ardant, a burning furnace.^[3]
• 12th century – It is used of a lover's passion.^[3]
• 13th century – Mal des ardents (as ardanz) is recorded for gangrenous erysipelas.^[4]
• 14th century – The Ménagier uses it of eagerness for riches.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) On fire, burning: des charbons ardents, un brasier ardent.^[2][10]
2. Lit, alight, as in chapelle ardente, a room where candles burn around a coffin.^[10][2]
3. Having the colour or glow of fire: des cheveux d'un roux ardent.^[2][10]
4. Giving off intense heat, scorching: un soleil ardent, also of a fever or a thirst.^[2][3]
5. (figurative) Full of fire and eagerness, fervent, passionate: un amour ardent, un zèle ardent.^[2][1] Ardent à: eager for something.^[2]
6. Of a horse, hard to hold back.^[2][11]
7. (sailing) Of a sailing boat, tending to come up into the wind.^[11]

Noun

1. (very dated) A will-o'-the-wisp.^[2][10]
2. Mal des ardents: a medieval disease causing gangrene, ergotism.^[8][2]

Word family

• ardemment
• nuée ardente

Related words

• ardre
• ardeur
• Latin ardeō

Usage notes

Larousse records bal des Ardents, the masked ball of 1393 in Paris at which Charles VI was saved from the flames while five lords disguised like him as wild men were burnt alive.^[8] Être sur des charbons ardents means to be very impatient or anxious.^[2][9]

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 Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ a b c Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org