Etymologically
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contraire

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kɔ̃.tʁɛːʁ/[1]

Forms

contraire (plural contraires)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin contrārius (“opposite, facing; hostile; contradictory”), derived from contrā (“against”) (see contre).[2][3][4][5][6]

Compare Old Occitan contrari, Spanish contrario and Italian contrario.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) the noun means a hostile act, harm or wrong done to someone: Je t'en mouvrai un tel si grant contraire; this sense lived only in the Middle Ages.[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Modern usage favoured the idea of opposition over that of hostility.[3] Vent contraire is in Wace (1160–74), and the adjective “completely opposed” and the noun tot le contreire in Chrétien de Troyes (about 1175).[2] Medicine spoke of curing one contrary by another (about 1393).[2] Au contraire is found in Oresme (about 1370), in the sense “conversely” in Commynes (1495), and au contraire de about 1450.[2][3] In Belgian French que du contraire means “quite the contrary”.[3] Contrairement, dropped in the 17th century, came back in the 19th with contrairement à (1821).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – A wrong, Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • 1160–74 – Vent contraire, Wace.[2]
  • c. 1175 – “Opposite”, tot le contreire, Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • c. 1370 – Au contraire, Oresme.[2]
  • c. 1450 – Au contraire de.[2]
  • 1821 – Contrairement à.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Opposite, contrary: des opinions contraires, dans le sens contraire, contraire à, against: contraire au règlement.[9][10]
  2. Coming from the opposite direction: vent contraire.[11][7]
  3. Harmful, unfavourable: le vin lui est contraire.[11][1]

Noun

  1. The opposite: c'est tout le contraire, (linguistics) an antonym.[10][1]
  2. Au contraire: on the contrary, au contraire de, unlike.[2][9]

Word family

  • contrairement

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1120b
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse