douloir

Forms

douloir^[1] Old French doloir, with present forms such as duil, dueil and deult.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French doloir, inherited from Latin doleō (“to suffer, to grieve”).^{[4][1][5][6][7]} The same Latin verb gave the noun douleur and the adjective dolent.^[8]

Cognate with Italian dolere, Occitan doler, Spanish doler and Portuguese doer.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Jonah fragment of Valenciennes (10th century), meaning “to suffer, to grieve”: tu douls mult “you grieve much”.^[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb was first intransitive; the reflexive se douloir “to grieve, to lament” is recorded in the late 12th century, in Chrétien de Troyes about 1170 and in the songs of the Châtelain de Coucy.^[4][6][2]

It went out of ordinary use in the classical period;^[2] Mathurin Régnier still wrote the present je me deulx, and Littré regretted the loss of so expressive a verb.^[2] Archaizing writers used it until the end of the 19th century, as Moréas did in 1891.^[8][4]

Timeline

• c. 980 – First record in the Jonah fragment of Valenciennes.^[6][4]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses the reflexive se douloir.^[4]
• 1835 – The Académie defines it as “to complain”, as an old word.^[4]
• 1891 – Jean Moréas uses the infinitive in a poem.^[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, reflexive) To suffer, to feel pain or grief.^[4][6][1]
2. (archaic, reflexive) To lament, to express one's pain in complaints.^[4][6][2]

Related words

• douleur
• dolent
• doléance
• Latin doleō

Usage notes

In later use the verb is found almost only in the infinitive.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 117b
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert