complaisant

Forms

complaisant (feminine complaisante, masculine plural complaisants, feminine plural complaisantes)^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from French complaire (“to please”).^[2][3][4][5] complaire is from Latin complaceō (“to please greatly”), with its form adapted to plaire;^[5][1] Bloch and Wartburg date it 1373, with a first isolated record about 1120.^[5][1] Littré compares Italian compiacente.^[6]

The noun complaisance is not formed from it: it was borrowed about 1370 from Christian Latin complacentia (“will to please”).^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF dates the adjective to Pasquier in 1555, in the sense “eager to please”; the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert, the DHLF and Bloch and Wartburg give 1556.^{[3][2][4][7][5]}

Semantic evolution

From the 17th century the adjective took on the pejorative shade of its verb, of vanity or weakness: the sense “excessively indulgent” is dated 1666 (Molière) by the GLLF, and the noun un complaisant, a flatterer at someone's service, is recorded the same year but has since gone out of use.^[7][3] Cotgrave in 1611 glossed it “obsequious, observant, soothing”.^[8] The sense of a person who tolerates or favours another's love affairs is noted by Féraud in 1787; it survives in mari complaisant.^[3][4]

The sense of self-satisfaction, complaisant towards oneself, is dated about 1657 (Pascal).^[3] The Académie included the word from its first edition in 1694, for someone who shows complaisance to others.^[9][10] The adverb complaisamment is recorded from 1680.^[7]

Timeline

• 1555 – First recorded, in Pasquier, “eager to please”.^[3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave glosses it “obsequious, soothing”.^[8]
• c. 1657 – Pascal uses it of self-satisfaction.^[3]
• 1666 – Molière uses it pejoratively; first use as a noun.^[3][7]
• 1680 – The adverb complaisamment is recorded.^[7]
• 1694 – Entered in the first edition of the Académie's dictionary.^[9]
• 1787 – Féraud notes the sense “tolerant of others' love affairs”.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Obliging, kind and eager to please; well disposed towards others, as in Elle s’est montrée très complaisante envers nous.^[4][10][1]
2. (derogatory) Too indulgent, conniving.^[4][10] Mari complaisant: a husband who shuts his eyes to his wife's infidelities.^[4][10][3]
3. Showing satisfaction with oneself, complacent, as in Il écoutait son propre discours d’une oreille complaisante.^[4][10][3]

Word family

• complaisamment

Related words

• complaire
• complaisance
• plaire
• Latin complaceō

Usage notes

In older French the noun un complaisant, une complaisante meant a flatterer or a go-between in someone's love affairs.^[6][7][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip
9. ^ a b Académie française (1694), Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie françoise, 1st ed., Paris: Coignard
10. ^ a b c d e f 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