curiosité

Forms

curiosité f (plural curiosités)^[1] Old French curioseté;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also wrote curiousté and curiuseté.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cūriōsitās (“care, desire to know”), from cūriōsus (“careful, inquisitive”), the source of curieux.^[2][4][5] Christian Latin also used the word for something that arouses interest.^[2][5][6]

Cognate with Occitan curiositat, Spanish curiosidad and Italian curiosità.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 1190 as curioseté in Marie de France's Purgatoire, meaning care or excessive concern for something.^[2][8][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense of care or worry lasted until the end of the 17th century.^[2][5] From the 13th century the word also meant the desire to know (curiositeiz in the sermons of Saint Bernard), and Brunetto Latini's Trésor gives it a pejorative sense about 1268, the wish to learn obscure things one has no need of.^[2][5] The moralists of the 17th century often called it vaine; only in the 18th century did curiosity become praiseworthy again when its object was worthy, which explains the double value of the modern word.^[5]

Amyot used it in 1559 for a taste for rare things, a sense that held up better in curieux.^[2][5] The concrete sense, a curious thing and especially an object collected by connoisseurs, dates from the 15th century; it survives in the plural for the sights of a place.^[2][5][9]

Timeline

• 1190 – Curioseté appears in Marie de France.^[2][5]
• 13th century – Curiositeiz “desire to know” in the sermons of Saint Bernard.^[2]
• c. 1268 – Brunetto Latini uses it pejoratively.^[2][5]
• 15th century – It names a thing that draws attention.^[2][5]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for a passion for rare things.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. curiosity, the wish to learn and know new things: la curiosité scientifique.^[10][2][9]
2. The wish to know other people's secrets, indiscrétion.^[10][9]
3. (dated) Care or concern for something.^[10][8]
4. (dated) A taste for rare and precious things.^[8][5]
5. A curious or rare thing, a curio; in the plural, the sights of a place: les curiosités de Lyon.^[9][1]

Related words

• curieux
• Latin cūriōsitās

Usage notes

The proverb la curiosité est un vilain défaut (“curiosity is an ugly fault”) is recorded by the Petit Robert.^[10][1] A cabinet de curiosités is a collection of rare objects.^[1]

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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1564a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d 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