coutumier

Forms

coutumier (feminine coutumière, masculine plural coutumiers, feminine plural coutumières)^[1] Old French custumier, costumier and coustumier.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French coutume + -ier.^[2][4][1] The TLFi compares Late Latin consuetudinarius (“habitual”), used as a legal term in the Middle Ages.^[2] The base noun goes back to Latin cōnsuētūdō (“custom”).^[5] Littré gives the Old Occitan cognates costumier and cosdumnier.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1160 in the Roman d'Eneas, in the construction custumier de “in the habit of doing something”.^[2][6] Gautier d'Arras uses it the same way: Qui de moi nuire est costumiere (“who is in the habit of harming me”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was soon tied to coutume in its legal sense, the unwritten customary law of a region, giving droit coutumier and pays coutumier.^[6][3] As a noun it named a collection of customary rules (1394 for Rey, 1396 for the TLFi).^[6][2] In the old law it could also mean a commoner, as opposed to a noble.^[3][2] The sense “usual, done as a rule” of things is recorded in 1460.^[2]

The personal sense survives mainly in être coutumier du fait, said of someone who has done the same, usually blameworthy, thing before.^[7][3] In the French of Africa, the Indian Ocean and New Caledonia, coutumier is used of whatever belongs to local tradition, as in mariage coutumier.^[6] Chef coutumier is a traditional chief.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Custumier de “in the habit of” appears in the Roman d'Eneas.^[2]
• 1201 – The adverb costumierement is recorded in Gace Brulé.^[2]
• 1396 – Coustumier names a collection of customs.^[2]
• 1460 – It is used of things, “usual”.^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated, often derogatory) In the habit of doing something: être coutumier du fait, to have done the same thing before.^[7][3][1]
2. Usual, customary, done ordinarily in such circumstances.^[7][2]
3. (law) Belonging to custom rather than written law: droit coutumier, customary law.^[7][3][2]
4. (old law) Not noble, common.^[3][2]
5. (Africa, Indian Ocean, New Caledonia) Of local tradition: mariage coutumier, chef coutumier.^[6][7]

Noun

1. (law) A collection of the rules of customary law of a region;^[9][2] grand coutumier, the general collection of a country's customs.^[9][2]

Word family

• coutumièrement

Related words

• coutume
• accoutumer
• Latin cōnsuētūdō

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 l m n o p 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 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)