coulpe

Forms

coulpe f (plural coulpes)^[1] Old French colpe, culpe and coupe; the spelling coulpe is found from the 12th century and became usual in the 15th.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French colpe, inherited from Latin culpa (“fault”).^[2][4][5][6] The word kept a learned spelling and pronunciation under the influence of Church Latin, from the words Latin mea culpa of the Confiteor;^[2][4] the popular form coupe lasted in the general sense “fault” until the 17th century, while coupable kept its French form because it was in everyday use.^[4][7] Bloch and Wartburg think the remade form won only once the popular form had gone out of use, about the 16th century.^[7] Wiktionary adds that the ⟨l⟩, restored first in spelling and then in speech, also kept the word apart from coupe¹ “cup”.^[1] Rey notes that the Latin word has no established etymology.^[4]

Cognate with Italian colpa, Old Occitan colpa and Spanish culpa.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as colpe in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia (881), meaning “fault”: Elle colpes non avret (“she had no faults”).^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old French colpe, culpe, coupe meant fault, guilt and sin; the Chanson de Roland has Clamez vos culpes (“confess your sins”).^[8][9] Batre sa colpe, striking one's breast as a sign of repentance, is found about 1130.^[2][4]

The word then narrowed to a term of theology for sin, and by metonymy for the confession of sin and the gesture of admitting it.^[4][2] It now lives mainly in phrases modelled on the Confiteor, such as battre sa coulpe, dire sa coulpe and faire sa coulpe, and in some religious orders it names the public confession of breaches of the rule.^[4][3] The Latin phrase mea culpa (faire son mea culpa, 1560) has spread more widely in modern use.^[4]

Timeline

• 881 – Colpe “fault” in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.^[2][4]
• c. 1100 – Culpe in the Chanson de Roland.^[2][8]
• c. 1130 – Batre sa colpe in the Couronnement de Louis.^[2]
• c. 1460 – The spelling coulpe in the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles.^[2][5]
• 1560 – Faire son mea culpa is recorded.^[4]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records battre sa coulpe.^[3]
• 1665 – The popular form coupe “fault” is still used, by Chapelain.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A sin, a fault.^[10][2][8]
2. Battre sa coulpe: to beat one's breast, to show repentance, to admit one's guilt: Le ministre a fini par battre sa coulpe.^[10][3]
3. Dire sa coulpe, faire sa coulpe: to confess one's sin or fault.^[2][8]
4. (religion) In some religious orders, the public confession of breaches of the rule.^[3]

Related words

• coupable
• culpabilité
• disculper
• inculper
• Latin culpa

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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 h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b 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, 1496b
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert