crétin

Forms

crétin m (plural crétins, feminine crétine)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Franco-Provençal crétin, a word of the Valais and the neighbouring Alpine dialects of French-speaking Switzerland, recorded in Vaud in 1660, where cretinism was endemic.^[2][3][4][5] There it is the local outcome of Latin christiānus (“Christian”), with the Franco-Provençal treatment of ⟨-iānu⟩ as ⟨-in⟩, and so the same word as chrétien.^[2][3][5][1] The sense is explained as a euphemism: the word was first used out of pity, meaning “poor soul, innocent”, as with benêt and innocent.^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg compare the old Béarnais crestian (“cagot”).^[4][2]

Littré rejected this explanation, the word being recent in French; he proposed German Kreidling, from Kreide (“chalk”), for the pale skin of those affected.^[6] Etymonline calls the origin uncertain.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in French in 1750, in a memoir read by Maugiron to the Société royale de Lyon about the cretins of the Valais, the direct source of the Encyclopédie article of 1754.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In French the word was at first tied to the Valais: the Encyclopédie reports that the people there looked on cretins as guardian angels of their families.^[3] Through mocking uses such as crétin des Alpes and crétin du Valais, it became the common insult for a stupid person (1835, Académie).^[3][2] In 19th-century school slang it was a scornful name for a hard-working pupil.^[3] It is used as an adjective from 1857 (the Goncourts).^[8]

English borrowed it as cretin in 1779.^[7]

Timeline

• 1660 – Recorded in Vaud, in Switzerland.^[2][3]
• 1750 – First French record, about the cretins of the Valais.^[2][4]
• 1754 – The Encyclopédie has an article Cretins.^[2][8]
• 1779 – English borrows the word.^[7]
• 1784 – The derivative crétinisme appears.^[4][3]
• 1835 – The Académie records the sense “stupid person”.^[2][8]
• 1857 – The Goncourts use it as an adjective.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A person affected by cretinism, caused by a lack of thyroid hormone.^[9][1]
2. (familiar, derogatory) A stupid person, an idiot: Quel crétin !^[9][1]

Adjective

1. (familiar, derogatory) Stupid, idiotic: une remarque crétine.^[9][1]

Word family

• crétinisme

Related words

• chrétien
• Latin christiānus
• English cretin

Usage notes

Crétin des Alpes survives as an intensified insult, from the old association of the word with the Alps.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 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. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert