Etymologically
Log in

craindre

Etymology and origin of the French word craindre

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 10th century, Passion de Clermont (crement)
Inherited from
Latin *cremo via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (tremō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kʁɛ̃dʁ/[1]

Forms

craindre[1] Old French criembre (about 1050), crendre (Chanson de Roland), criendre, creindre, craindre from the 13th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French criembre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *cremō, a Gallo-Roman alteration of Latin tremō (“to tremble; to tremble at, fear”).[5][4][6][7][8] The initial /k/ is explained by crossing with a Gaulish word containing a Celtic root “*crit-” “trembling”, reconstructed from Irish crith (“trembling”) and Breton kridien.[5][6][7][1] Very early “criembre” was remade as “crendre”, then “craindre”, on the pattern of the verbs in “-aindre”, and its whole conjugation was refashioned during the Middle Ages.[6][4] Littré compared geindre, from Latin gemō, which shows the same ending.[9]

Compare Old Occitan cremer.[6] In the other Romance languages the Latin verb kept the sense “tremble”, as Italian tremare, and fear was expressed by descendants of Latin timeō: Italian temere, Spanish temer.[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first appears at the end of the 10th century in the Passion of Clermont, used absolutely in the sense “to be afraid”; the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has mult criem que ne t'em perde “I greatly fear that I shall lose you”.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

It was soon constructed with a noun object (Chanson de Roland), with que and the subjunctive, and with de and the infinitive (Chrétien de Troyes, about 1175).[5][4] In a religious context it meant to revere God (about 1120), whence ne craindre ni Dieu ni diable.[5][4][9] Weaker uses followed: “to be sensitive to, not to tolerate” (1580), as of a plant that cannot stand frost, and the litotes ne pas craindre sa peine (about 1530).[5][4]

Modern spoken French has ça craint “that's bad, dodgy, lame”, with the adjective craignos (1967); in the 1980s and 1990s young speakers also used c'est la crainte.[4] In the dialects of France craindre is little used, people rather say avoir peur.[6]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Crement, in the Passion of Clermont.[5]
  • c. 1050 – Criem que, in the Vie de saint Alexis.[5]
  • c. 1100 – The remade future crendrez in the Chanson de Roland.[5][6]
  • c. 1120 – “To revere (God)”, in the Voyage de saint Brendan.[5]
  • c. 1175 – Craindre de with the infinitive, Chrétien de Troyes.[5]
  • c. 1275 – Creindre in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose.[5]
  • 1580 – “Not to tolerate”, Bernard Palissy.[5]
  • 1967 – Craignos.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fear, be afraid of: craindre la mort, craindre que with the subjunctive, je crains de le déranger.[3][10][1]
  2. Craindre pour: to fear for, be anxious about: craindre pour sa vie.[10][3]
  3. To revere, hold in awe: craindre Dieu.[3][9]
  4. Of things: to be easily damaged by, not to stand: cette plante craint le gel.[5][4]
  5. (slang, intransitive) To be bad, lousy, unpleasant: ça craint.[11][1]

Word family

  • crainte
  • craintif
  • craintivement
  • craignos

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 238b
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Craindre.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/craindre. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·