Etymologically
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caricature

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ka.ʁi.ka.tyʁ/[1]

Forms

caricature f (plural caricatures)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian caricatura (“a loading; a caricature”),[2][3][4][5][1][6] derived with the suffix “-ura” from the past participle of caricare (“to load; to exaggerate”), which in the 17th century already meant a portrait made ridiculous by exaggerated features.[2][3] “Caricare” comes from Late Latin carricō (“to load a cart”), like French charger.[7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

D'Argenson's Mémoires (1740) use it as a painting term, a grotesque likeness in drawing or paint.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Before 1784 Diderot extended it to a distorted, exaggerated picture of reality in a literary work, and then to any ridiculous distortion of a thing.[2][3] By metonymy (1808, Michelet 1822) a caricature is a person who is ugly or ridiculously dressed.[3][2]

The first half of the 19th century, which gave caricaturer (1801), caricaturiste (1803) and caricatural (1842), was the great age of political caricature, with Daumier and Gavarni; in the 20th century the humorous drawing largely took its place.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 17th century – Italian caricatura, a ridiculous portrait.[2][3]
  • 1740 – A grotesque likeness (d'Argenson).[2][3]
  • 1762 – First recorded by the Académie.[2]
  • before 1784 – A distorted image of reality in literature (Diderot).[2][3]
  • 1801 – Caricaturer.[3][4]
  • 1803 – Caricaturiste.[3]
  • 1808 – A ridiculous-looking person.[3]
  • 1842 – Caricatural.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A caricature, a drawing that exaggerates the features of a person for comic or satirical effect.[9][10]
  2. A comic or satirical description that exaggerates certain traits.[9][7]
  3. (figurative) A grotesque distortion of reality: une caricature de justice.[7][8]
  4. A ridiculously dressed or ugly person.[8][3]

Word family

  • caricaturiste

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 420b
  7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)