déshonnête

Forms

déshonnête (plural déshonnêtes)^[1] Old French deshoneste,^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also deshonest, dishonest.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from French dés- + honnête.^[5][6][7][8] The adjective is from Latin honestus (“honourable, honoured”).^[9] Etymonline suggests that the Old French word may come from a Medieval Latin or Gallo-Romance compound of dis- and that adjective, Latin itself having dehonestus.^[10]

Littré compares Old Occitan deshonest, Spanish deshonesto and Italian disonesto.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in the Vers de la mort (mid-13th century), applies it to a thing in the sense “ugly, hideous”.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

About 1265 Brunetto Latini's Trésor uses it in the sense “improper, unseemly”, the one still current.^[5][8] Beaumanoir (about 1283) speaks of a deshoneste vie, a shameful way of living.^[3][7] Two other senses, “dishonouring” (15th century) and “dishonest” in the modern sense (1538), have disappeared; that sense passed to malhonnête.^[8] Palsgrave notes in the 16th century that its ⟨h⟩ is silent.^[3]

Today it is literary or dated, and is said of words, gestures or books contrary to decency.^[11][12][13] English dishonest was borrowed from the Old French word in the late 14th century.^[10][4]

Timeline

• mid-13th century – The Vers de la mort use it for something ugly or hideous.^[5]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini uses it in the sense “unseemly, improper”.^[5][8]
• c. 1283 – Beaumanoir writes of a deshoneste vie.^[3][7]
• late 14th century – English dishonest is borrowed from the Old French word.^[10]
• 15th century – It is recorded in the sense “dishonouring”.^[8]
• 1538 – It is recorded in the sense “dishonest”, later lost.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary, dated) Contrary to modesty and to propriety; indécent, inconvenant: des propos déshonnêtes.^[12][11][13]

Word family

• déshonnêteté
• déshonnêtement

Related words

• honnête
• malhonnête
• Latin honestus
• English dishonest

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale