déloyal

Forms

déloyal (feminine déloyale, masculine plural déloyaux, feminine plural déloyales)^[1] Old French desleal and desloial; the modern form déloyal dates from the 15th century.^[2][3][4] In Old French the feminine was the same as the masculine, as in Latin adjectives in -alis: une femme desloials.^[5]

Etymology

It is formed from French dé- + loyal.^[6][2][3][1] The simple adjective goes back to Latin lēgālis (“in accordance with the law, legal”).^[7][8] The Old French form was remade after the simple adjective in the 15th century.^[4]

Compare Old Occitan desleial, Catalan deslleal, Spanish desleal and Italian disleale.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as deslëax in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide (about 1170), of a person without loyalty.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the moral sense of loyal rather than its older legal one: from the 12th century it describes a person, or conduct, lacking honour and good faith.^[4][7] Villehardouin wrote that the Greeks mout estoient desloial “were very disloyal” at that time.^[5] Like loyal, it belongs to a formal register.^[4] In modern use it is also said of an act that shows a lack of good faith, notably in concurrence déloyale “unfair competition”.^[9][3]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Deslëax appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide.^[6]
• c. 1175 – The adverb desliraument, later déloyalement, is recorded.^[6]
• 13th century – Villehardouin and the Roman de la Rose use desloial.^[5]
• 15th century – The form déloyal replaces desleal.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. disloyal, lacking loyalty, treacherous: il s'est montré déloyal envers ses associés.^[9][3][10]
2. Showing a lack of good faith, unfair.^[9][3] Concurrence déloyale: unfair competition.^[9][3]
3. (boxing) Coups déloyaux: blows below the belt, forbidden by the rules.^[9]

Word family

• déloyalement

Related words

• loyal
• loyauté
• déloyauté

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d 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
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 240a
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)