créole

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kʁe.ɔl/^[1]

Forms

créole m or f by sense (plural créoles)^[1] Crollo (1598), criollo (1643), criole (1676), créole from 1670^[2][3][4]; Féraud (1787) notes that criole is no longer said.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish criollo (from 1590),^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} itself from Portuguese crioulo, recorded in 1632 for a black person born in Brazil but probably first “servant brought up in the master's house”;^[2][3][4] Old Portuguese also used it of hens raised at home.^[4] It is derived, with an unclear suffix, from cria (“servant raised in the house”), a back-formation from criar (“to rear”), from Latin creō (“to create”), the source of créer.^[2][3][5][1]

The sense “creole language” was probably taken straight from Portuguese, as it first refers to the Portuguese spoken in Senegal.^[2] Littré still thought the origin of “criollo” doubtful, some calling it a Carib word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A French translation of José de Acosta's history of the Indies (1598) uses crollo for a Spaniard of pure white descent born in the colonies, presenting it as a Spanish word.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In French form, créole first appears in a letter of the Governor of the Antilles to Colbert (1670), for a white person born in the islands.^[2][8] Its use varies across the French-speaking world: on Mauritius it is a person of colour, in the Indian Ocean any person of mixed descent, in Louisiana formerly whites of French or Spanish descent^[3][7]; nègre créole was a black person born in the colonies, as opposed to one brought by the slave trade.^[3][7]

Langue créole named a broken Portuguese spoken in Senegal in 1688, and patois créole the French of the colonies in Hugo (1826); le créole now names the languages that grew out of the slave trade.^[2][3][9] As an adjective it describes things of these countries, and riz à la créole is known everywhere French is spoken.^[3][10] A créole is also a large hoop earring.^[9]

Timeline

• 1590 – Spanish criollo.^[2][3]
• 1598 – Crollo, in a translation.^[2][3]
• 1632 – Portuguese crioulo.^[2][3]
• 1670 – Créole (letter to Colbert).^[2][8]
• 1688 – Langue créole in Senegal.^[2][3]
• 1762 – First recorded by the Académie.^[2]
• 1826 – Patois créole (Hugo).^[2]
• 1842 – Se créoliser.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A creole, a person of European descent born in the former tropical colonies, especially the Antilles; in some regions, a person of African or mixed descent.^[10][9][3]
2. A creole language, such as those of the Antilles and the Indian Ocean.^[9][1]
3. A large hoop earring.^[9]

Adjective

1. Creole; of the creoles or their countries: musique créole.^[9][10]
2. Riz (à la) créole: rice boiled and then dried.^[10][9]

Related words

• créer
• English creole

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 q 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 j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
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, 1296b
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert