droit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dʁwa/^[1]
• IPA: /dʁwɑ/^[1]

Forms

droit m (plural droits)^[1] Old French dreit, later droit; in Middle French it was for a time spelled droict after the Latin.^[1][2] The popular pronunciation dret, drette, from an older value of the diphthong ⟨oi⟩, is still noted for speech, Quebec says dret en avant for droit devant.^[2][3]

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Old French dreit, inherited from Latin dīrēctus (“straight, direct; at right angles”), figuratively “straightforward, just”, through a syncopated Late Latin form drictus.^[3][2][1][4] The noun, “law, right”, continues dīrēctum, the neuter of the adjective used as a noun, recorded in the 6th century for “justice” and in the 8th for “the body of laws”, Gregory of Tours has “verbum directum” “fair dealing”.^[2][5] Latin “dīrēctus” is the past participle of dīrigō (“to set in a straight line; to direct”), itself from regō (“to guide, rule”).^[2][6] The word is a doublet of the learned direct.^[1]

The sense “on the right-hand side” (15th century) is a special use of the adjective “just, correct”, developed of the right hand as the one that acts with precision; it drove out Old French destre (see dextre) in the 16th century, as “gauche” drove out “senestre”.^[2][5][3] Littré rejects the older idea that this “droit” came from Latin dexter.^[7]

Cognate with Italian diritto, Occitan drech, Catalan dret, Spanish derecho, Portuguese direito and Romanian drept.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is found as dreit in the Strasbourg Oaths of 842.^[9][2] The adjective appears about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis in the sense “right, true, exact” (dreit num “his true name”), and the adverb “straight, directly” in the same text.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective kept both values of the Latin word.^[2] Figuratively it meant “honest, loyal” by about 1100 (Chanson de Roland) and “in keeping with reason, sound” in Wace (1130–1140), senses still alive; concretely it meant “without a bend” (about 1100) and “direct, without detour” (1155, dreite veie).^[3][2] Angle droit takes up the Latin “at 90 degrees”, and the noun droite, short for ligne droite, is a geometry term from 1738.^[2][3] The spatial sense “right, not left” is first found in the 15th century (pied droit); à droit (Rabelais, 1532) gave way to à droite (Montaigne, 1580), and the political la droite, the deputies seated on the right of the Assembly, dates from 1793 (le côté droit, 1790–1792).^[3][10]

The noun was first used for what is just and moral in general; it then named the laws and customs of a people (1155), a particular rule (early 13th century) and the study of law (late 13th century), whence droit civil, droit pénal and so on.^[2] From 1080 it also meant what one may claim, as in avoir droit à and être dans son droit; by metonymy it named a fee or duty paid for a right (1160), and les droits de l'homme is recorded in 1774.^[2]

Timeline

• 842 – The noun dreit in the Strasbourg Oaths.^[9][2]
• c. 1050 – The adjective, “right, true”, and the adverb “straight” in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[3]
• c. 1100 – “Honest, just” and “without a bend” in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• 1155 – The noun names the laws of a people.^[2]
• 1160 – A fee or duty.^[2]
• 15th century – Pied droit, the first spatial use “right-hand”.^[3]
• 1580 – À droite in Montaigne.^[3]
• 1738 – Droite “straight line” in Voltaire.^[3]
• 1774 – Les droits de l'homme.^[2]
• 1793 – La droite of the political right.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. straight, without a bend or curve; upright, vertical.^[6][11]
2. (geometry) Angle droit: a right angle.^[6][1]
3. (figurative) Honest, upright; sound, sensible: un esprit droit.^[6][3]
4. right, on the right-hand side: la main droite.^[6][12]

Adverb

1. Straight, directly: aller droit au but, tout droit.^[12][6]
2. Marcher droit: to behave, toe the line.^[12]

Noun

1. (masculine) A right, an entitlement: avoir le droit de, les droits de l'homme.^[2][1]
2. (masculine) law as a body of rules or a field of study: droit civil, faire son droit.^[1][2]
3. (masculine) A fee or duty: droits de douane, droits d'auteur.^[2]
4. (feminine) La droite: the right-hand side; the political right; in geometry, a straight line.^[3][2]

Word family

• droitier
• droiture
• adroit
• endroit
• maladroit
• passe-droit
• ayant droit

Related words

• direct
• dextre
• diriger
• Latin dīrēctus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 87b
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)