disgrâce

Forms

disgrâce f (plural disgrâces)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian disgrazia (“misfortune, disfavour”), a Renaissance borrowing; the Italian word is recorded in both senses from the first half of the 14th century.^[2][3][4] It is formed from Italian dis- + grazia (“grace”), the Italian noun having the same Latin source as grâce, Latin grātia.^[3][5][6] Littré, writing before the Italian origin was established, explained it as a French compound of the negative prefix with the French noun.^[7]

It replaced the 16th-century form desgrace, found from before 1536 in a translation of Guevara; that form came from Spanish desgracia, recorded from 1495.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Le Grand Robert, the DHLF and GLLF date the word from 1539, in the sense “misfortune, unhappy event”.^[5][3][6] The TLFi's first quotation is from O. de Magny's Amours (1553), with the same sense of “misfortune”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “misfortune”, was usual in classical French (GLLF cites Racine) but has gone out of use.^[3][6][8] From 1564, when Thierry's dictionary records it, the word also meant the loss of a powerful person's favour, the sense that survives today, and by metonymy the state of someone who has lost that favour; in the 17th century it was also used in religious language.^[2][3][6] A third sense, “lack of grace or charm”, also dated 1564, is literary and has aged.^[3][8]

The Italian word gave French the related disgracié (1546), from Italian disgraziato, which in turn gave the verb disgracier (1552).^[3] The English word disgrace was taken from French in the 1580s, for the state of being out of a powerful person's favour.^[9]

Timeline

• Before 1536 – The Spanish-derived form desgrace appears in a translation of Guevara.^[2]
• 1539 – First record of disgrâce, meaning “misfortune”.^[5][3][6]
• 1553 – O. de Magny's Amours uses disgrace for a misfortune.^[2]
• 1564 – Thierry records the sense “loss of favour”, and the sense “lack of grace”.^[2][3][6]
• 1580s – English borrows the word as disgrace.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The loss of the favour of a powerful person on whom one depends, and the resulting state: tomber en disgrâce, être en disgrâce.^[10][8][11]
2. (literary) The loss of the esteem or credit that someone or something enjoyed with a person or the public.^[11]
3. (archaic) A misfortune, an unhappy event: pour comble de disgrâce “to crown it all”.^[8][10]
4. (literary) Lack of grace or charm, awkwardness, ungainliness.^[8][11]

Related words

• grâce
• disgracié
• disgracier
• disgracieux
• Italian disgrazia
• Latin grātia
• English disgrace

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 246b
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)