chauvinisme

Forms

chauvinisme m (plural chauvinismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French chauvin + -isme.^[2][3] Rey thinks it was taken straight from the proper name rather than from the adjective, which he dates only to 1843.^[4] The name is that of Nicolas Chauvin, the stock figure of the naively enthusiastic patriotic soldier of Napoleon's armies, put on stage by the Cogniard brothers in their vaudeville of 1831, La Cocarde tricolore.^[5][4][1] Rey adds that the name stands less for a real person than for a narrative tradition.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first quotation in the TLFi, from Auguste Jal's Paris moderne (1834), speaks of an instinctive chauvinisme expressed in naively vain popular songs, the cult of military glory of the years after the Empire.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective chauvin first had the favourable sense “valiant soldier” before it came to mean “fanatically patriotic”, and the noun was formed when the word was already turning pejorative.^[4] In the 19th century it named an exaggerated patriotism attached to military memories;^[2] Renan (1871) contrasts the French, who mocked it under this name, with the Germans, who prided themselves on it.^[2] Today it means an aggressive, exclusive nationalism that disparages everything foreign, and by extension a narrow partisanship, as that of sports fans for their own side.^[6][7]

English took the word as chauvinism about 1840; there it was later extended to belief in the superiority of one's own race.^[8] From the late 1960s, through male chauvinist, it also came to mean sexism.^[8] Rey notes that the French doublet chauviniste (1859) was influenced by the English word chauvinist, which had widened the French sense.^[4]

Timeline

• 1831 – The character Chauvin appears in the Cogniard brothers' vaudeville La Cocarde tricolore.^[5]
• 1832 – The Petit Robert and Rey date the noun to this year.^[6][4]
• 1834 – Auguste Jal uses chauvinisme in Paris moderne, the TLFi's first record.^[2][3]
• 1840 – The English word chauvinism is recorded.^[8]
• 1840 – The GLLF's first record, from Bayard and Dumanoir.^[9]
• 1843 – The FEW's first record, from Théophile Gautier.^[10]
• 1878 – The Académie française includes the word in its dictionary.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An aggressive, exclusive patriotism or nationalism that admires everything national and disparages what is foreign.^[6][7]
2. By extension, blind partisanship for one's own group or side: le chauvinisme des supporters de football.^[6]

Related words

• chauvin
• chauviniste
• English chauvinism

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF