Etymologically
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cadet

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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]

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