crédulité

Forms

crédulité f (plural crédulités)^[1] Old French creduliteit (late 12th century), then credulité (13th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crēdulitās (“readiness to believe”), from crēdulus (“credulous”), from crēdō (“to believe”).^[2][4][5] The first French record, creduliteit, renders a different Latin word, the genitive crūdēlitātis (“of cruelty”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form creduliteit occurs in the late 12th-century fragments of a French translation of the Moralia in Job, where it translates Latin crudelitatis.^[2][3] The GLLF dates the sense “tendency to believe too easily” to about 1170, in the Livre des Rois.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the form credulité appears in the Ysopet fables.^[2] Oresme in the 14th century used it both for belief or opinion and, in the plural, for particular beliefs: teles credulitez et suspections.^[5][6]

The modern meaning is the state of mind of someone who believes too readily on slight grounds.^[7][5] As with the Latin word, literary French also uses it for an utterance or act that shows this readiness, with a plural des crédulités; the GLLF marks this use as dated.^[3][6]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Sense “tendency to believe too easily”, in the Livre des Rois (GLLF dating).^[6]
• Late 12th century – Creduliteit in the Moralia in Job fragments.^[2][3]
• 13th century – Credulité in the Ysopet.^[2]
• c. 1361 – Oresme uses it for an act or belief showing credulity.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Credulity, gullibility: a readiness to believe things on weak grounds.^[7][2][1]
2. (literary, dated) A word or act that shows such readiness; in this sense it has a plural: les crédulités d'un enfant.^[6][3]

Related words

• crédule
• incrédulité
• incrédule
• croire
• crédulement
• Latin crēdulitās

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert