chrétienté

Forms

chrétienté f (plural chrétientés)^[1] Old French cristïentét, crestientet and crestïantez.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French chrétien + -té, on the model of Late Latin christiānitās (“Christianity, the body of Christians”), a Christian Latin word of the 4th century derived from christiānus.^[2][4][5] Wiktionary also allows that the Old French word continues the accusative christiānitātem directly.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan chrestiantat, Spanish cristiandad and Italian cristianità.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, cristïentét in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1040), means the Christian law or faith, that is, Christianity itself.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

By about 1165–1170 Chrétien de Troyes used crestïantez in Erec et Enide for the whole body of Christian peoples and countries, the sense that has lasted.^[2][5] Old French could also use the word for the spiritual authority of a bishop: a 13th-century chronicle of Reims tells a lord that he is outside the archbishop's crestienté.^[3] The older sense “Christianity, the Christian religion” is recorded until Cotgrave's dictionary of 1611.^[2]

From the end of the 17th century, in Bourdaloue, a chrétienté is also a Christian community living in a non-Christian country, as in les chrétientés orientales.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1040 – Cristïentét “Christian law, Christianity” appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2]
• 1165–1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses crestïantez for the Christian peoples and lands.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave is the last to record the sense “Christianity”.^[2]
• late 17th century – Bourdaloue uses it for a Christian community in a non-Christian country.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Christendom: all the Christian peoples, and the countries where Christianity prevails.^[6][2]
2. A Christian community in a non-Christian country.^[2][5]
3. (obsolete) The Christian faith, Christianity.^[2]

Related words

• christianisme
• chrétien
• Late Latin christiānitās

Usage notes

Littré records two popular phrases: marcher sur la chrétienté, “to walk with holes in one's shoes”, and Dieu bénisse chrétienté, said to soften a comparison between a person and an animal.^[3]

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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert