doux

Pronunciation

• IPA: /du/^[1]

Forms

doux (feminine douce, masculine plural doux, feminine plural douces)^[1] Old French dulz, douz (12th century); doux from the 16th century.^[2][3] The feminine douce (dulce in the Chanson de Roland) was created in French, Latin dulcis had one form for both genders.^[4][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French dulz, inherited from Latin dulcis (“sweet; pleasant, charming; dear”).^{[5][3][4][6][7]} Rey and the Petit Robert connect the Latin word with Ancient Greek γλυκύς (glukús, “sweet”), from an earlier “*dlukus”.^[3][8] Bloch and Wartburg note that the other Latin adjectives for softness fared differently: “lēnis” survives only in Romanian lin, and for “suāvis” compare suave.^[4]

Cognate with Romanian dulce, Italian dolce, Catalan dolç, Spanish dulce and Portuguese doce.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has France dulce “sweet France”, dulz païs and ewes dulces, fresh water.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts the adjective has its full range of uses: of taste, touch (liz dulz, about 1150), the weather (vanz dolz, Chrétien de Troyes, about 1176) and people (douce fille, about 1170), and in courtly lyric ma douce amie.^[5][3][9] Later additions are the technical “ductile” of metals (1690) and prix doux “moderate prices” (1808).^[3][10]

The adverb (1531) gave filer doux “to toe the line” (1583) and classical tout doux! “gently!”.^[3][5] Familiar en douce “on the quiet” dates from 1884.^[5][3] As a noun le doux is a neuter (1669), and in 19th-century slang a liqueur, opposed to le dur (1805).^[3][10]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – France dulce, Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• c. 1150 – Of touch, Voyage de Charlemagne.^[5]
• c. 1176 – Vanz dolz, Chrétien de Troyes.^[5]
• 1531 – The adverb.^[5][3]
• 1583 – Filer doux.^[3]
• 1690 – Of metals, “ductile”.^[3]
• 1884 – En douce.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sweet; mild in taste: amandes douces, vin doux; not salty: eau douce, beurre doux.^[8][1]
2. soft, smooth to the touch: une peau douce.^[8][1]
3. mild, gentle: un climat doux, une pente douce.^[1][8]
4. (of a person) Gentle, kind: doux comme un agneau.^[1][9]
5. Pleasant, sweet: de doux souvenirs, faire les yeux doux.^[1][8]
6. Drogue douce: a soft drug.^[1]

Adverb

1. Filer doux: to behave meekly, toe the line.^[3]
2. (familiar) En douce: on the quiet, on the sly.^[5][1]

Word family

• doucement
• douceur
• doucereux
• douceâtre
• doucet
• doucette
• adoucir
• radoucir
• redoux
• aigre-doux

Related words

• douçâtre
• suave
• édulcorer
• Latin dulcis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
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, 174a
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF