cadet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ka.dɛ/^[1]

Forms

cadet (feminine cadette, masculine plural cadets, feminine plural cadettes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Occitan capdet (“chief, captain”), a Gascon word,^{[2][3][4][1][5][6]} corresponding to Provençal capdel, the source of cadeau^[2][3]; “-et” is the Gascon form of the suffix “-el”.^[2][3] This goes back to Late Latin capitellum (“little head”), a diminutive of Latin caput (“head”).^[1][5][7] The Gascon captains who served in the armies of the French kings in the 15th century were mostly younger sons of noble families, hence the sense “younger son”;^[2][3][8] the ending may also have been felt as a diminutive.^[2] Pierre Guiraud suggests a confusion of Provençal “cadel” “chief” with “cadel” “young of an animal”, from Latin catellus (“puppy”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sense “younger son” is found from the first records (1466, Jean de Bueil).^[2][4][8] A chronicle of Louis XI speaks of a Gascon captain nommé le capdet Remounent.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Cadet replaced puîné in the 18th century: in 1740 the Académie notes that it is the usual word in conversation.^[3][2] It came to mean any child born after the eldest, and also the youngest of a family (1671); as an adjective, branche cadette (1740) is a line descended from a younger son.^[2][8] By extension it is anyone younger than another (1690), and figuratively something of no importance, as in c'est le cadet de mes soucis (1812).^[2][8]

In military use, from 1530, a cadet was a young nobleman serving as a soldier to learn the trade, as in the cadets de Gascogne made famous by Dumas and Rostand; it now means an officer cadet.^[2][3][9] In sport it named the golf caddie (1906; compare caddie) and a category of young athletes (1928).^[2]

Timeline

• 1466 – “Younger son” (Jean de Bueil).^[2][4]
• 1530 – A young nobleman serving as a soldier.^[2]
• 1650 – Cadichon.^[3]
• 1671 – The youngest child.^[2][8]
• 1740 – Branche cadette^[2][3]; cadet is the usual word (Académie).^[2][3]
• 1812 – Le cadet de mes soucis^[2]; cadet de Gascogne.^[2]
• 1906 – A golf caddie.^[2]
• 1928 – A category of young athletes.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A younger child; a younger brother or sister: c'est mon cadet.^[10][1]
2. The youngest child of a family.^[8][10]
3. A person younger than another: il est mon cadet de trois ans.^[8][10]
4. (historical) A young nobleman serving as a soldier; today an officer cadet.^[9][1]
5. (sport) A junior player.^[1][2]

Adjective

1. Younger: frère cadet, branche cadette.^[10][1]
2. C'est le cadet de mes soucis: it is the least of my worries.^[8][2]

Related words

• benjamin
• cadeau
• chef
• aîné
• English cadet

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 r s t u v Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 258a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert