châtier

Forms

châtier^[1] Old French castier (10th century), chastier (12th century), and the variant chastoier.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chastier, earlier castier, inherited from Latin castīgō (“to correct, reprimand”).^[2][3][5][6] In Christian Latin the verb also meant “to mortify oneself”.^[2][3] It is derived from castus, which Bloch and Wartburg gloss “pure”, so that the verb first meant “to try to make pure”, while Rey takes the adjective in the sense “in keeping with the rules” and the verb as “to try to instruct”.^[5][3] Littré notes that the Old French verb and the obsolete chastoier stand in the same relation as charrier and charroyer.^[4]

Cognate with Italian castigare, Occitan castigar, Catalan castigar, Spanish castigar and Portuguese castigar, and German kasteien is from the same Latin verb.^[7][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, castier in the Vie de saint Léger (10th century), means “to reprimand, rebuke”, a sense still alive in the classical language.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The strong sense “to punish severely” is recorded from Wace (1160–1174); the proverb qui bien ayme bien chastie dates from 1350–1400 and survives as qui aime bien châtie bien, the only common use of the verb today.^[2][3] In a religious context chastïer sa chair “to mortify one's flesh” is found from about 1121–1135, and soi chastier “to mend one's ways” from about 1170.^[2][3]

The classical language added the sense “to purify one's style” (1661), which is behind un langage châtié “polished language”.^[2][3][9] The verb as a whole belongs to formal usage; its derivative châtiment (about 1170) is more common, especially in religious contexts.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 980 – Castier “to rebuke” appears in the Vie de saint Léger.^[2][3]
• 1121–1135 – Philippe de Thaon has sa chair chastïer “to mortify one's flesh”.^[2]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses chastier for “to punish”.^[2][3]
• c. 1170 – Soi chastier “to mend one's ways”, and the noun chastiement.^[2][3]
• 1350–1400 – The proverb qui bien ayme bien chastie is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1661 – Somaize records the sense “to polish one's style”.^[2][3]
• before 1755 – Châtieur appears.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To punish someone in order to correct them: Le roi châtia les rebelles.^[7][10][9]
2. Qui aime bien châtie bien: whoever loves well punishes well, correcting someone being a sign of affection.^[7][4]
3. (figurative) To punish a fault or a quality: châtier l'insolence.^[8][7]
4. Châtier son corps, se châtier: to mortify oneself.^[7][8]
5. (figurative) To polish or purify one's style;^[9][4] un langage châtié: polished, correct language.^[9][4]
6. (horse riding) To correct a horse with the whip or the spur.^[4]

Word family

• châtiment
• châtieur

Related words

• chaste
• caste
• Latin castīgō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 471b
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)