déplorable

Forms

déplorable (plural déplorables)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French déplorer + -able.^[2][3][4][5] The verb is from Latin dēplōrō (“to weep, lament”).^[3] Wiktionary calls the adjective a learned borrowing of Late Latin dēplōrābilis, which French speakers can analyse as the verb and the suffix.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded at the end of the 15th century, in Jean Robertet's lament on the death of Chastellain, meaning “deserving to be lamented, pitiable”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, “worthy of pity”, said of a person or a family, is now dated and was mostly poetic: the Académie gave prince déplorable and famille déplorable from 1798 to 1878, and Racine and Hugo used it so.^[2][6] The sense of a fact or situation that one can only regret dates from the same time, and the GLLF dates a further sense to Malherbe at the start of the 17th century.^[6]

From 1803, in Chateaubriand, it also took the familiar sense “very poor, very bad” (a style déplorable), which separated it in meaning from the verb.^[2][5][7] The adverb déplorablement is recorded from 1610.^[5]

Timeline

• Late 15th century – First recorded, in Jean Robertet, meaning “pitiable”.^[2][5]
• Early 17th century – Malherbe uses it in a further sense.^[6]
• 1610 – The adverb déplorablement appears.^[5]
• 1798 – The Académie records prince déplorable, famille déplorable.^[2]
• 1803 – Chateaubriand uses it in the familiar sense “very bad”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated, literary) Of a person, to be pitied, unfortunate.^[8][2][7]
2. Of a thing, that deserves to be deplored, distressing.^[8][2]
3. Very regrettable, lamentable: un choix déplorable.^[8][7]
4. (familiar) Very bad, wretched: un style déplorable.^[8][2][7]

Word family

• déplorablement

Related words

• déplorer
• déploration
• Latin dēplōrō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert