Etymologically
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diatribe

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dja.tʁib/[1]

Forms

diatribe f (plural diatribes)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin diatriba (“discussion; school”),[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek διατριβή (diatribḗ), literally “a wearing away”, whence “pastime” and “study, philosophical discourse”, from Ancient Greek διατρίβω (diatríbō, “to rub away; to spend (time)”), from “dia-” and “tribein” “to rub, wear”.[3][1][6][7] Rey mentions a comparison of the stem with Latin “detrimentum” (see détriment).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Simon Fontaine's Histoire catholique de nostre temps (1558) has it in an uncertain sense, a school discussion.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Chapelain (1638) used it for a critical dissertation on a work or a point of doctrine (des diatribes sur les principales matières controversées de la primitive Église).[2][8] With Voltaire (1734 according to Bloch and Wartburg, Dictionnaire philosophique, 1764, according to the TLFi) it came to mean a bitter, violent and often abusive criticism.[4][2][3] English diatribe (1640s) first meant a learned discourse, and took the sense of invective by 1804, apparently from French.[7]

Timeline

  • 1558 – In Simon Fontaine.[2]
  • 1638 – A critical dissertation, in Chapelain.[2]
  • 1640s – English diatribe.[7]
  • 1734 – Invective, in Voltaire.[4]
  • 1764 – In Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A diatribe, bitter attack: une violente diatribe contre le régime.[9][10]
  2. (classical) A critical dissertation.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert