croyance

Forms

croyance f (plural croyances)^[1] Old French creance (11th century) and croiance (about 1370).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French croiance, a variant of creance, inherited from Late Latin *crēdentia, derived from crēdō (“to believe”).^[2][1][3] The Late Latin noun is not recorded, but the TLFi considers it certain, because it is found across the Romance languages and because the Old French noun had the same basic senses as croire;^[2] Medieval Latin later took it up as credentia.^[2] Rey stresses that the word is therefore not a derivative of the verb.^[3]

The form with ⟨croi⟩ is a reshaping of the older form after the verb.^[4][5] It did not wholly replace that form, which survives as créance in technical and legal use;^[3] until the 17th century the form with ⟨cré⟩ was the more usual word in every sense.^[6][5] Wiktionary considers the headword a probable doublet of it.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

As creance it is first found in the Vie de saint Alexis (mid-11th century) in the religious sense of the act of believing, faith.^[2][3] The general sense, the act of holding something to be true or possible, follows in Benoît de Sainte-Maure about 1174.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word covered both religious faith and belief in general from the 12th century, and by metonymy it came to mean what is believed, which brought it close to foi and opinion.^[3][2] The spelling croiance appears in Oresme about 1370,^[2][6] and croyance itself in Montchrestien in 1601.^[2]

In the 17th century Corneille used it for the credit given to something said,^[5] a sense now classed as old.^[7] The word also displaced the noun use of the infinitive, le croire (1690).^[3] Its negative incroyance is recorded from 1840.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Creance appears in the Vie de saint Alexis, in the religious sense.^[2]
• c. 1174 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for believing something true or possible.^[2]
• c. 1370 – The form croiance is found in Oresme.^[2][3]
• 1601 – The spelling croyance is recorded in Montchrestien.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records several of its modern senses.^[5]
• 1636 – Corneille uses it for credit given to a statement.^[5]
• 1840 – The negative incroyance is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or fact of believing something to be true, likely or possible.^[7][8]
2. Belief in the existence of someone or something, especially faith in God.^[9][7]
3. What one believes, especially in religion: a belief, a creed.^[8][9]
4. (dated) credit given to what someone says.^[7][5]

Word family

• incroyance

Related words

• créance
• croire
• croyable
• croyant
• mécréant
• Latin crēdō

Usage notes

Littré notes that, according to Vaugelas, the word was once pronounced like créance.^[10]

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