comédie

Forms

comédie f (countable and uncountable, plural comédies)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōmoedia (“stage play, comedy”),^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía, “comedy”).^[3][5][1] Rey derives the Greek word, through κωμῳδός (kōmōidós, “singer at a revel”), from κῶμος (kômos, “revel”), the name of a burlesque procession at the festivals of Dionysus, which may go back to a sense “band, troop”.^[3] Wiktionary takes the second part from ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”) or ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer”).^[1][6]

Littré lists Occitan comedia, Spanish comedia and Italian commedia.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nicole Oresme uses it in his translations of Aristotle (1370–1372) for any play, of whatever kind.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that Oresme and Evrart de Conty used it only when setting out Aristotle's views on Greek theatre, for which they took the Miracles as the French equivalent.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word came into real use only with translations from Italian, or from Latin printed in Italy (Octavien de Saint-Gelais's six comedies of Terence, 1536), and it was adopted by the time of Du Bellay's Défense et illustration (1549).^[3] Jodelle called his play Eugène a comédie (1552), the first record of the sense “play meant to amuse”, opposed to tragédie.^[2][5][3]

In the 17th century it often still meant any play, hence a performance (1661, Molière), the playhouse (1668), and the troupe, as in Comédie-Française.^[2][5][3] Figuratively donner la comédie meant “to make a spectacle of oneself” (1666), and jouer la comédie came to mean “to pretend”, recorded by Furetière in 1690.^[2][7] Since the 17th century it has also named the comic genre as a whole, with phrases such as comédie musicale (1930).^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1370–1372 – Nicole Oresme uses it for any stage play.^[2]
• c. 1500 – The derivative comédien appears as comediain.^[3]
• 1536 – Octavien de Saint-Gelais translates six comedies of Terence.^[3]
• 1552 – Jodelle's Eugène is called a comédie in the modern sense.^[2][5]
• 1661 – Molière uses it for the performance of a play.^[2]
• 1666 – Donner la comédie “to make a spectacle of oneself” in Molière's Misanthrope.^[2]
• 1668 – Racine uses it for the playhouse.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records jouer la comédie “to pretend”.^[7]
• 1930 – Comédie musicale “musical”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A play meant to amuse by showing the foibles of characters and manners: les comédies de Molière.^[8][2]
2. The comic genre in theatre, film and television: préférer la comédie au drame.^[8][1]
3. A film with the features of a comedy;^[8] comédie musicale, a musical.^[8]
4. (figurative) Pretence, playacting: jouer la comédie “to put on an act”;^[8][1] tout cela n'est que comédie.^[8][1]
5. (familiar) A fuss, a tantrum, especially a child's: Arrête cette comédie !^[8]
6. (dated) Any stage play, whatever its genre; also the theatre where plays are performed, as in la Comédie-Française.^[8][2][9]

Word family

• comédien
• comédienne

Related words

• comique
• tragicomédie
• tragédie
• Latin cōmoedia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 964b
5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse