conflagration

Forms

conflagration f (plural conflagrations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnflagrātiō (“fire, conflagration”),^{[2][3][4][1][5]} a Late Latin noun of action from cōnflagrō (“to be ablaze”),^[3][6] formed from cum (“with”) and flagrō (“to blaze, to burn”), the source of flagrant.^[3][7][8] The Latin noun had both a literal and a figurative sense.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Raoul de Presles's translation of Augustine's City of God, about 1375, has the word, but the TLFi knows it only from an edition of 1531.^[2][3][8] The next record, in the Mer des Histoires of 1488, uses it for a general conflagration, a great fire.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word was rare from the 14th to the 18th century.^[8][9] It is a literary word with the literal sense “great fire”, working as a stronger doublet of déflagration.^[3] Rabelais used it of the burning of Troy, and Montaigne of the final burning of the world in Stoic thought.^[7]

The figurative sense, a catastrophe or a great destructive upheaval, dates from the revolutionary period (before 1791, Mirabeau).^[2][3][9] It was applied to the world wars, influenced by the similar-sounding conflit.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – Raoul de Presles uses it in his translation of the City of God.^[2][3]
• 1488 – The Mer des Histoires uses it for a general fire.^[2][4]
• Before 1791 – Mirabeau uses it figuratively for a political upheaval.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, dated) A great fire, a general blaze: La conflagration ravagea toute la vieille ville.^[2][9][7]
2. (literary) An upheaval of great scope, especially a large international conflict, a war: Le traité devait éviter une nouvelle conflagration.^[9][10][11]

Related words

• déflagration
• flagrant
• conflit
• Latin cōnflagrātiō
• English conflagration

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1040a
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)