cherté

Forms

cherté f (plural chertés)^[1] Old French chierté, also chiereté and Anglo-Norman cherté.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chierté, which the TLFi takes as formed from French cher + -té on the model of Latin cāritās (“affection, dearness”).^[4] Rey and the Robert dictionaries see it rather as the Latin noun adapted after the French adjective,^[5][6][7] and Wiktionary allows both.^[1] The Latin noun is from cārus (“dear”);^[6] its learned doublet is charité.^[1][5]

Littré compares Picard querté.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 10th century, in the Jonas fragment of Valenciennes, meaning “affection, tenderness”.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

Like the Latin word, it first meant both “affection” and “dearness”: to hold someone en chierté was to cherish them, and the affectionate sense lasted until the 16th century.^[4][2][5] From the middle of the 12th century it named a dearth caused by high prices, and by about 1210 the high price itself.^[4][5] The economic sense has since driven out the other: cherté is now only the state of what is cher “expensive”.^[5] In Anglo-Norman it covered love, dearness and scarcity.^[3]

Timeline

• 10th century – Used for “affection” in the Jonas fragment.^[4][8]
• c. 1150 – Wace uses it of a dearth caused by high prices.^[4]
• 1210–1220 – “High price” in Aymeri de Narbonne.^[4][5]
• 16th century – Last records of the sense “affection”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (somewhat dated) High cost, expensiveness: la cherté de la vie, the high cost of living.^[7][4]

Related words

• cher
• charité
• Latin cāritās

Usage notes

Littré records the saying cherté foisonne: when things are dear, people use them sparingly.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse