cursif

Forms

cursif (feminine cursive, masculine plural cursifs, feminine plural cursives)^[1] The first record, in Rabelais, has the form coursives;^[2][3][4] cursif is a remodelling after the Latin.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin cursīvus (“running, cursive”), a word recorded about 1450 for writing done with a running hand.^[2][3][5] The Latin adjective is formed on cursum, the supine of currō (“to run”).^[2][3][6]

Anglo-Norman already had corsif, also spelled cursif, meaning “swift”, from about 1170.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rabelais's Pantagruel (1532) speaks of lettres coursives, letters written in a running hand.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

After Rabelais the word is found in Cotgrave's dictionary (1611), and Bloch and Wartburg date its general use from 1792.^[2][6] The Encyclopédie méthodique (1783) describes a rapid cursive script written with abbreviations,^[2] and Gattel's dictionary of 1797 has the feminine noun cursive for this kind of writing.^[2][3]

In literary language it came to mean “rapid, brief” and so sometimes “superficial”: the TLFi dates this sense from before 1864 (Ampère), the GLLF from 1866.^[2][8][3] The adverb cursivement, used once in the 16th century for “in all haste”, was taken up again in the 19th century.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1532 – Rabelais writes lettres coursives.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the word.^[2]
• 1783 – The Encyclopédie méthodique describes cursive writing.^[2]
• 1797 – Gattel records the noun cursive.^[2][8]
• 1798 – The Académie records the word.^[8]
• before 1864 – Ampère uses it figuratively for “brief, rapid”.^[2]
• 1866 – Larousse records the figurative sense and the adverb cursivement “in cursive writing”.^[8][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Cursive, of writing: written quickly with a running hand.^[2][4][9]
2. (figurative) Brief, rapid, done in one go: une lecture cursive “a quick reading”.^[4][8]

Noun

1. (feminine) Cursive handwriting: écrire en cursive “to write in cursive”.^[4][2]

Word family

• cursivement

Related words

• courir
• curseur
• Latin currō

References

1. ^ a b 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 r 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette