Etymologically
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flic

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Pronunciation

Forms

flic m (plural flics, feminine fliquesse)[1] Flique “police superintendent” (about 1828, 1836), fligue, flic from 1856.[2][3][4] Fligman is found in 1792.[5][6]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from German Flick (“boy, young man”), a word of German thieves' slang recorded from 1510.[2][4][7] The GLLF adds that it was first used in France by Jewish criminals, whose slang held many Germanic words.[4] Rey and the Grand Robert also consider Fliege (“fly; police informer”), compare French mouche “police spy”; the phrase “flic à dard” (“fligue à dard”, 1836), an armed sergeant, supports this second view.[3][8] The Petit Robert gives only “Fliege”.[5] Wiktionary takes “fligue” as short for the earlier “fligman”.[1]

Pierre Guiraud saw instead a deverbal noun from a verb “flica” “to slap”, a variant of “flaquer” “to whip”, of imitative origin, with the same image as cogne.[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Esnault records flique about 1828 for a police superintendent, flic in its present sense is dated 1856.[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word spread only at the beginning of the 20th century.[3][8] First a police officer on the beat, it came to mean any policeman, and lost so much of its scornful tone that police officers use it of themselves.[3] By extension it is applied, disparagingly, to anyone who likes to keep watch and enforce order.[3][5] It gave flicard (1883), flicaille “the police” (1939), and the verb fliquer and noun flicage (about 1970), linked with the anti-repressive mood of the students of 1968.[3] Its back slang keuf is written from 1978.[3]

Timeline

  • 1792 – Fligman in a Père Duchêne pamphlet.[6]
  • c. 1828 – Flique, a police superintendent.[3][4]
  • 1836 – Flique in Parent-Duchâtelet's study of prostitution in Paris.[2]
  • 1856 – Flic, a policeman.[2][4]
  • 1883 – Flicard.[3]
  • 1939 – Flicaille.[3]
  • c. 1970 – Fliquer and flicage.[3]
  • 1978 – Keuf in writing.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (familiar) A policeman, cop: appeler les flics, flic en civil.[5][9][1]
  2. (familiar, derogatory) A person who likes to keep watch and enforce order.[5][9]

Word family

  • flicard
  • flicaille
  • fliquer
  • flicage
  • keuf

Usage notes

The feminine is une flic, also fliquesse or fliquette.[5][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 143a
  8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)