Etymologically
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brave

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Pronunciation

Forms

brave (plural braves)[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Italian bravo (“brave; wild”): the first French authors to use it wrote under Italian influence.[2][1] Bloch and Wartburg, the GLLF and the Grand Robert name both bravo and Spanish bravo as sources.[3][4][5] Rey thinks the Italian word came from Old Occitan brau (“wild”) rather than from Spanish; the Provençal word, like Catalan brau, Portuguese bravo and the Spanish one, probably descends from Latin barbarus (“barbarian”), which also meant “wild, fierce” of animals and “wild, untilled” of plants and land.[2] The sound change, proposed by Jules Cornu, ran through *barbru and *babru to *brabu;[2] Bloch and Wartburg write it as *brabus.[3] Menéndez Pidal proposed Latin prāvus (“crooked, bad”) instead, but Rey takes the Leonese Latin forms on which he relied to be false Latinisations of the Spanish word, which is very old in the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

Its doublet is bravo.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rey's first record (before 1521) and the Grand Robert's (1521) are a noun meaning an Italian hired swordsman, after Italian bravo “henchman”.[2][5] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF date the word to the 14th century, the GLLF to Jean de Brie (1379).[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From 1535 the adjective spread with the range of its Italian model: “handsome”, “proud, arrogant” (1541), “good”, “noble” (before 1544) and “courageous” (1549), meanings it kept until the 17th century.[2][5] “Courageous” then became the main sense in standard French, while “good, honest in a simple way” survived (1704), above all before the noun: un brave homme, de braves gens.[2][6] The sense “handsome, well dressed” lives on in regional French, especially in Provence under the influence of Provençal and Italian;[2][7] in Luxembourg French a brave child is a well-behaved one.[2]

The verb braver was formed on it about 1515, after Italian bravare;[2][3] bravement (1465) had the old senses too, but only “courageously” survives.[2]

Timeline

  • 1379 – The GLLF's first record, in Jean de Brie.[4]
  • 1465 – The adverb bravement.[2][3]
  • c. 1515 – The verb braver.[3][2]
  • 1521 – Brave as a noun, “Italian hired swordsman”.[5][2]
  • 1535 – The adjective begins to spread.[2][5]
  • 1549 – First record of the sense “courageous”.[2][8]
  • 1704 – The sense “good, honest” is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Courageous, valiant in the face of danger (usually after the noun): un soldat brave.[8][7]
  2. (before the noun) Good and honest in a simple way, kind and obliging; decent: un brave homme, de braves gens.[8][6][4]
  3. (dated or regional) Handsome, well dressed.[7][6]

Noun

  1. A brave person: se battre en brave, la paix des braves.[8][1]

Word family

  • braver
  • bravement
  • braverie

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert