bonté

Forms

bonté f (plural bontés)^[1] Old French bontet, buntet and bunté;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also bountee.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French bonté, inherited from Latin bonitās (“goodness”), from its accusative bonitātem.^[4][5][6][7] The Latin word is a noun of quality formed from bonus (“good”), and named both the good quality of a thing and kindness towards others.^[4][5]

Cognate with Italian bontà, Old Occitan bontat, Spanish bondad and Portuguese bondade.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found about 1080 in the Chanson de Roland (Que plus n'i a d'honneur et de bontet, “that there is no more honour and worth there”), as a moral quality.^[5][2][4] In the earliest texts it names a social rather than an individual virtue.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Like the adjective bon, the word reached its modern sense gradually.^[4] In medieval Christian society goodness was an attribute of God, from which man was cut off by original sin; in feudal texts it was the worth of a brave warrior of high birth, and by metonymy the excellence of his horse, shield or sword.^[4] Courtly literature made it a more personal quality of a hero or a lady.^[4]

The moral sense “kindness, charity towards others” emerges from the early 12th century, with concrete uses for “an act of kindness” (une bonté, des bontés).^[4] Such acts were often a favour or gift, and in classical love rhetoric a lady's favours, as in avoir des bontés pour a man.^[4] A bonté was also a payment or the income of land or capital (1212).^[4]

From the 16th century the idea became secular; it gave the mild exclamation bonté divine ! (1766) and the polite formula avoir la bonté de “to be so kind as to” (1656).^[4] The older sense “excellence of a thing”, recorded from about 1130, has become marginal.^[4][8]

English bounty comes from the Anglo-Norman form of this word.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 1080 – Bontet appears in the Chanson de Roland as a moral quality.^[5][2][4]
• c. 1130 – It is used for the excellence of a thing.^[4]
• Early 12th century – The sense “kindness, charity towards others” emerges.^[4]
• Late 12th century – The plural bontés means acts of kindness.^[4]
• c. 1180 – It is used of a favour or gift.^[4]
• 1212 – It names a payment due.^[4]
• 1656 – Avoir la bonté de is recorded.^[4]
• 1766 – The exclamation bonté divine ! is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Kindness, goodness: the moral quality that leads one to do good to others.^[8][9][1]
2. (religion) The goodness of God.^[2][4]
3. (usually plural) An act of kindness, a favour;^[4] avoir des bontés pour, to grant someone one's favours.^[4]
4. Avoir la bonté de: to be so kind as to (a polite formula).^[4]
5. (rare) The good quality or excellence of a thing.^[8][2]
6. Bonté divine !: an exclamation of surprise.^[4][2]

Related words

• bon
• Latin bonitās
• English bounty

Usage notes

Par bonté d'âme is often used ironically.^[8][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 433a
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse