confus

Forms

confus (feminine confuse, masculine plural confus, feminine plural confuses)^[1] Old French cunfus.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also has comfus and counfus.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnfūsus (“mixed together, confused”), the past participle of cōnfundō (“to pour together, mingle, confound”).^[2][3][5][6] Its meanings developed in step with those of confondre, the French verb from the same Latin one.^[5][3]

Cognate with Occitan confus, Spanish confuso and Italian confuso.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as cunfus in a psalter of the first half of the 12th century, meaning “confounded, humiliated, put to shame”, translating Latin non sunt confusi.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense was the moral one, “embarrassed, covered in shame”, whose force weakened from about 1640, and the word entered polite formulas such as je suis confus.^[3][8] The strong sense “lost, killed, ruined” (about 1180) declined in the 15th century, like the corresponding sense of confondre.^[3]

From 1292 the adjective also described things whose elements are mixed together, and by extension what is not clear to the senses (1549, Du Bellay) or to the mind (1671).^[2][3] In law it once meant “merged, united”, of rights that became one in the same person.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Cunfus “put to shame” in a psalter.^[3][8]
• c. 1180 – The sense “lost, ruined”, which declined in the 15th century.^[3]
• 1292 – “Made of mixed elements”, in a translation of Justinian's Institutes.^[2]
• 1549 – Du Bellay uses it for “not clear”.^[2]
• 1573 – The adverb confusément appears in its modern form.^[3]
• 1640 – The weakened polite sense, in Corneille.^[3][8]
• 1671 – “Unclear to the mind”.^[3][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person: embarrassed out of shame or modesty: Il est resté tout confus après sa gaffe.^[9][2]
2. Je suis confus: a polite formula of apology or of thanks for kindness received.^[9][7]
3. Made of elements so jumbled that they cannot be told apart: un bruit confus de voix.^[9][2]
4. Not clear to the mind, muddled: une explication confuse.^[9][7][1]

Word family

• confusément

Related words

• confondre
• confusion

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1047a
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert