camaraderie

Forms

camaraderie f (plural camaraderies)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French camarade + -erie.^[2][1][3] The noun camarade is a borrowing of Spanish camarada, a military term meaning “barrack room”, from cámara (“room”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Madame de Sévigné used it in a letter in 1671 for the familiarity that exists between comrades.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the familiar relationship between comrades the word was extended at the end of the 19th century to the kind of understanding between people with shared interests.^[4] Littré records the sense of writers and artists with ties to one another who support and praise one another, a use first attributed to Henri de Latouche by Chasles in the Journal des Débats of 1860;^[5] the GLLF calls this pejorative sense dated.^[6] Its other derivatives, the familiar verb camarader (1844) and the slang camaro and camarluche, fell out of use in the 20th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1671 – First record, in a letter of Madame de Sévigné.^[2]
• 1844 – The verb camarader appears.^[4]
• 1860 – Chasles attributes the sense “mutual praise among writers” to Henri de Latouche.^[5]
• Late 19th century – Extended to an understanding between people with shared interests.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Familiarity and friendly relations between comrades: une longue camaraderie.^[7][2][6]
2. A spirit of mutual help and solidarity among members of the same group, school or party.^[6][2]
3. (dated, pejorative) Close mutual support among people with common interests, a clique spirit.^[6][5]
4. Prix de camaraderie: a school prize for a pupil who is a good comrade.^[6]

Related words

• camarade
• Spanish camarada

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert