Etymologically
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douleur

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /du.lœʁ/[1]

Forms

douleur f (plural douleurs)[1] Old French dolur, dulur, dolor, douleur from the 14th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French dolor, inherited from Latin dolor (“physical or mental pain”) (accusative “dolōrem”), from doleō (“to suffer, feel pain”), which also gave Old French doloir “to suffer” (see douloir).[2][4][5][6][7]

Cognate with Italian dolore, Spanish dolor, Portuguese dor and Romanian durere.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has dolur; the Chanson de Roland uses it for both physical pain and grief (Deus ! quel dulur que li Franceis nel sevent !).[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The word came into French with both its physical and its moral sense, and its meaning has changed little; what changed from the classical to the Romantic period were its connotations and its relation to souffrance and peine.[4] Bloch and Wartburg note that it is little used in the dialects, where the popular word is mal.[5] The plural douleurs names labour pains, as in accouchement sans douleur.[3]

Compounds include souffre-douleur “whipping boy” (1607) and anti-douleur (1952); in the 20th century comprendre sa douleur came to mean “to have a very unpleasant experience”.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Dolur, Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • 14th century – The spelling douleur.[3]
  • 1503 – The derivative endoulourir, later endolorir.[4]
  • 1607 – Souffre-douleur.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. pain, physical suffering: une douleur aiguë, crier de douleur.[8][1]
  2. (plural) Labour pains: être dans les douleurs.[3]
  3. Grief, sorrow, distress: la douleur d'une mère.[1][3]
  4. (familiar) Comprendre sa douleur: to have a hard time of it.[4]

Word family

  • douloureux
  • endolorir
  • souffre-douleur
  • deuil
  • douloir
  • dolent
  • indolore
  • Latin dolor

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 119b
  8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette