despotique

Forms

despotique (plural despotiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δεσποτικός (despotikós, “of a master, ruling absolutely”),^[2][3][1] from δεσπότης (despótēs, “master”).^[4][5] Wiktionary also analyses it as from French despote + -ique.^[1] Picoche traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *póti-, meaning the head of a household or group.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nicole Oresme uses it about 1370 in his Ethique, with its political value, “of a master holding absolute power”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By extension it came to mean “tyrannical”, first in a figurative use of 1674, Boileau's Vous avez sur ses vers un pouvoir despotique (“You have a despotic power over his verse”).^[2][3][7] It is even more pejorative than despote, and the whole family was much used during the Revolution, almost as a synonym of tyrannique.^[3] Montesquieu set the despotic government beside the republican and the monarchical.^[7] English took despotic from the French word in the 1640s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1370 – Oresme uses despotique.^[2][3]
• Before 1382 – Oresme also uses the adverb despotiquement.^[3]
• 1640s – English borrows it as despotic.^[8]
• 1674 – Boileau uses it figuratively.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Proper to a despote or to despotisme; ruling with absolute power: Le pays vivait sous un régime despotique..^[7][9][2]
2. (figurative) Authoritarian, tyrannical, of a person or character.^[7][9][10]
3. Imposing itself as a constraining rule.^[9]
4. (dated) Governed by a despot.^[5]

Word family

• despotiquement

Related words

• despote
• despotisme
• English despotic

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)