dignité

Forms

dignité f (plural dignités)^[1] Old French also digneté;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman dignitee, dingneté.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dignitās (“merit, esteem, public office”),^[4][5][6] from dignus (“worthy”) (see digne).^[7][8] The Latin noun also meant the qualities that make one worthy, and then honourableness and a majestic bearing.^[5]

The same Latin word, in its accusative dignitātem, had already given the inherited Old French deintié (in the Chanson de Roland, about 1080), “lordship, power” and “choice morsel, delicacy”; the borrowing pushed it out.^[4][5][1] Littré too calls deintet the original form and says the others were remade after the Latin in the 12th century.^[2]

Cognate with Old Occitan dignitat, Spanish dignidad and Italian dignità.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Brut (1155) has it both for an office that gives someone high rank and for the greatness or eminence of a thing.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the office the sense passed to worth in general: the value of a thing (1265, Brunetto Latini's Trésor) and the greatness and quality of persons (about 1370, Oresme).^[4][5] Seen from the outside, as a matter of behaviour, it came to mean grave or proud manners (1690, Furetière).^[4][5]

In the Church it named certain benefices that carried a rank or jurisdiction in a chapter, such as dean or archdeacon, and the persons who held them.^[2] The derivative dignitaire (1718) names a person holding such a rank.^[5][4] The old form survived only in hunting language, where Littré still records daintiers, the testicles of the stag.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1155 – First record of dignité, in Wace's Roman de Brut, for a high office.^[4]
• 1265 – Brunetto Latini uses it for the worth of a thing.^[4]
• c. 1370 – Oresme uses it for the greatness of persons.^[4][5]
• 16th century – Palsgrave notes that it was pronounced without /ɲ/, as dinité.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “grave manners”.^[4]
• 1718 – The derivative dignitaire appears.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A high office, title or rank: élevée à la dignité de cardinal.^[9][2]
2. The respect that a person deserves, the worth of a human being: dignité de la personne humaine.^[9][8]
3. self-respect, pride, and the grave bearing that shows it: répondre avec dignité.^[9][4]
4. (dated, Church) A benefice carrying a rank in a chapter, or the person holding it.^[2]

Word family

• dignitaire

Related words

• digne
• indigne
• daigner
• Latin dignitās
• English dignity

Usage notes

Beside /di.ɲi.te/, a pronunciation /di.ni.te/ is also heard;^[1] in the 16th century Palsgrave already gave dinité.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 78b
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert