Etymologically
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faible

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɛbl/[1]

Forms

faible (plural faibles)[1] Old French fieble (about 1100), feble (about 1160) and foible (about 1175), with many other medieval forms, faible is a 17th-century respelling.[2][3][4] The variant foible, once pronounced “fouèble”, was kept by the Académie until 1878.[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French foible, inherited from Old French feble, inherited from Vulgar Latin *febilis, from Latin flēbilis (“lamentable, worthy of tears”) by loss of the first ⟨l⟩ through dissimilation,[5][2][4][6] from fleō (“to weep”).[2][7] From “deplorable” the sense passed to “weak”, as Littré notes of German wenig.[4][8] Ménage reported a pronunciation ⟨floible⟩ in Picardy and among the common people of Paris.[4] It is a doublet of the learned flébile.[1]

Cognate with Italian fievole, Old Occitan feble and frevol, Spanish feble and Portuguese febre (said of underweight coins).[8][9] From the Old French adjective came English feeble, and, from the noun foible “weak point” came English foible (1640s).[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has fieble “lacking physical strength”: Il est si fieble qu'il ne puet en avant (“he is so weak he cannot go on”).[5][8]

Semantic evolution

All later uses grow out of “lacking strength”.[2] Of things it meant “of little power” and “of little value” about 1170, “lacking intensity” about 1188 (of a light, a sound), whence monnaie faible “debased coin” (1226), and in classical French it was used of a small quantity or size (1642).[5][2][3] From about 1180 it described a lack of moral strength, from 1658 (Pascal, les faibles) a lack of intellectual or moral vigour, and in the 18th century also an argument without force (1742).[5][2]

The noun faible “failing, defect” is now only literary; the sense “liking, soft spot”, as in avoir un faible pour, dates from the 18th century (1762).[2][11] Le sexe faible “women” is a jocular phrase.[2] Derivatives include faiblesse (about 1050, fieblece), faiblement (1080), faiblir (12th century, rare before 1680) and the familiar faiblard (1878).[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Fieble in the Chanson de Roland.[5]
  • c. 1170 – “Of little value”, foible in Chrétien de Troyes.[5]
  • c. 1188 – “Lacking intensity”.[5]
  • 1226 – Monoye fleve “debased coin”.[5]
  • 1658 – Les faibles, in Pascal.[5]
  • 1640s – English borrows foible.[10]
  • 17th century – The spelling faible.[2]
  • 1762 – Faible “liking, soft spot”.[2]
  • 1835 – Faible recorded by the Académie.[5]
  • 1878 – The derivative faiblard.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Weak, lacking physical strength: se sentir faible.[12][1]
  2. Lacking strength of character or will; easily led.[5][2]
  3. Lacking ability in some field; of an argument, without force.[3][2]
  4. Of a thing, not solid, not able to resist; of a currency, weak.[2][5]
  5. Small, low (in amount, degree or value).[1][2]
  6. Faint, of low intensity: une lumière faible.[2][5]

Noun

  1. A weak person, a weakling, les faibles, the defenceless, un faible d'esprit, a feeble-minded person.[1][2]
  2. A soft spot, liking: avoir un faible pour quelqu'un.[1][11]
  3. (literary) A failing, weak point.[2]

Word family

  • affaiblir
  • faiblement
  • faiblard
  • faiblesse
  • faiblir
  • affaiblissement

Usage notes

Le sexe faible, “the weaker sex”, is a jocular name for women.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e 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 n 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 615b
  7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  12. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert