Etymologically
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erreur

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.ʁœʁ/[1]

Forms

erreur f (plural erreurs)[1] Old French error (end of the 10th century), resuffixed as erreur (12th–13th century); sometimes masculine in the 16th century after Latin.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin error (“wandering; uncertainty; mistake, illusion, (Christian Latin) heresy”), from its accusative “errōrem”, derived from errō (“to wander; to err”) (see errer).[5][2][6][4][7][1]

Compare Old Occitan error, Spanish error and Italian errore.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Passion of Clermont (end of the 10th century) error means deceit, imposture.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

About 1125 it meant the act of being mistaken, the source of faire erreur, par erreur, sauf erreur.[5][2] About 1200 it meant a regrettable act and, from Christian Latin, a false doctrine (maistres d'error); Bersuire (about 1355) has humaines erreurs, moral lapses.[5][2] It is a legal term from 1549 (erreur judiciaire) and means an inaccuracy from 1585 (erreur de calcul).[5][2]

From the 14th century, in a lofty style, it also took the Latin sense of wandering: Malherbe's erreur vagabonde and les erreurs d'Ulysse (Académie, 1694), a use dated already in the 17th century.[4][3] Cherchez l'erreur, pointing to something illogical, is from the end of the 20th century.[2]

Timeline

  • late 10th century – Error, imposture, Passion.[5]
  • c. 1125 – The act of being mistaken.[5]
  • c. 1200 – A false doctrine.[5]
  • c. 1355 – Humaines erreurs, Bersuire.[5]
  • 1549 – A legal term, Robert Estienne.[5]
  • 1585 – Erreur de calcul.[5]
  • 1694 – Les erreurs d'Ulysse, Académie.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An error, mistake: faire une erreur, par erreur, sauf erreur, erreur de calcul.[1][5]
  2. The state of being mistaken: être dans l'erreur, induire en erreur, l'erreur est humaine.[1][6]
  3. A false opinion or doctrine.[5][2]
  4. A lapse, wrong act: erreur de jeunesse.[1][2]
  5. (law) Erreur judiciaire: a miscarriage of justice.[2]
  6. (computing, science) An error, a deviation: message d'erreur, erreur absolue.[1][2]
  7. (literary, archaic) Wandering: les erreurs d'Ulysse.[3][4]
  • errer
  • erroné
  • errance
  • Latin error

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d 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 l m 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. ^ a b 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, 241a
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette