courageux

Forms

courageux (feminine courageuse, masculine plural courageux, feminine plural courageuses)^[1] Old French corajos, corajuse (feminine) and corageus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French courage + -eux, first as Old French corajos about 1160.^[2][4][1] Bloch and Wartburg list it among the derivatives of courage, as a 12th-century word.^[5]

Cognate with Old Occitan coratjos and Italian coraggioso.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Roman d'Énéas has corajos about 1160.^[2] In Benoît de Sainte-Maure's chronicle a people is called hardie e corajuse, Fiere e estrange e bataillose “bold and courageous, proud and wild and warlike”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the adjective meant full of ardour and energy, resolute and valiant.^[6] It could also mean eager or disposed to do something: the Roman de la Rose says of some De tous maus faire corageus “eager to do every evil”.^[3] In the 16th century Amyot still used it in the sense “proud, high-spirited”.^[3]

The meanings of courage were sorted out more clearly from the 17th century on,^[5] and courageux settled on “brave in the face of danger”; the sense “energetic, hard-working” is now dated or regional.^[7][8] Applied to an act or an attitude that shows courage, it is recorded before 1662, in Pascal.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Corajos appears in the Roman d'Énéas.^[2]
• 13th century – The Roman de la Rose uses corageus for “eager (to do something)”.^[3]
• 16th century – The modern spelling courageux is used by Amyot and Montaigne.^[3]
• Before 1662 – Pascal applies it to what shows courage.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Brave, courageous: acting in spite of danger or fear.^[9][7][1]
2. (dated or regional) Energetic, hard-working: une ouvrière courageuse.^[2][7][8]
3. Showing or requiring courage: une décision courageuse.^[9][7][8]

Word family

• courageusement

Related words

• courage
• cœur
• décourager
• encourager

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
7. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert