avaricieux

Forms

avaricieux (feminine avaricieuse, masculine plural avaricieux, feminine plural avaricieuses)^[1] Old French avariscieus, avarissieux and avaricios.^[2][3][4] Middle French spellings include avaricieus, avaricieulx and advaricieuse.^[5]

Etymology

It is formed from French avarice + -eux.^{[6][7][8][9][2][10][11]} The base noun is from Latin avāritia (“greed”).^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1283 in Beaumanoir, who writes Li cuers avariscieus aquiert, ne lui caut comment “the avaricious heart acquires, and does not care how”.^{[6][7][12][2]}

Semantic evolution

It was used as a noun, “a miser”, from 1370.^[12] In Middle French it meant both “miserly” and “greedy, covetous”.^[4] Rey notes that it was once a stronger and more contemptuous word than avare, and that it has become archaic or jocular;^[12] the Petit Robert and the GLLF describe it as a word of classical and literary French for a person whose meanness shows in small things.^[8][7] The Académie recorded it in 1694 as “avaricious, stingy”, noting that it was sometimes used as a noun.^[13]

English avaricious, recorded from the late 14th century, was taken from the Old French form avaricios.^[14]

Timeline

• 1283 – First recorded, in Beaumanoir.^[6][7][12]
• 14th century – Oresme writes that l'avaricieux delights in hoarding riches.^[2]
• 1370 – First used as a noun.^[12]
• Late 14th century – English avaricious is recorded.^[14]
• 1694 – The Académie's first dictionary records it as adjective and noun.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated or humorous) miserly, showing a petty avarice: un vieil oncle avaricieux.^[8][7][15]
2. Avaricieux de: sparing of, not lavish with: avaricieux de compliments.^[15]

Noun

1. (dated or humorous) A miser, a stingy person.^[8][15][2]

Related words

• avare
• avarice
• Latin avāritia
• English avaricious

Usage notes

Molière's line la peste soit de l'avarice et des avaricieux ! (“a plague on avarice and the avaricious!”) is the quotation the dictionaries give for the noun.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
5. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
10. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 1191b
12. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b Académie française (1694), Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie françoise, 1st ed., Paris: Coignard
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c 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