Etymologically
Log in

folie

Etymology and origin of the French word folie

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1100, Chanson de Roland
Ultimate origin
Latin (follis)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɔ.li/[1]

Forms

folie f (plural folies)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French fol + -ie, from the old form of the adjective fou (see also fol and folle).[2][3][4][5][6][1][7] The adjective continues Latin follis (“bellows; bag; ball”): by a joke, a foolish person was compared with a ball blown full of air, a change of sense complete by the 6th century.[6] Old French also said folage and folor.[8]

Compare Old Occitan folia and Italian follia.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has dire folie and oïr folie, foolish talk: Guenes a dit folie, “Ganelon has spoken folly”, and vasselage par sens n'est pas folie, “valour with good sense is no folly”.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

From the start it covered both madness and folly; the GLLF dates the medical sense, a serious mental disorder, to the Chanson de Roland as well, and the Laws of William the Conqueror use it for a foolish act.[4][8] The Châtelain de Coucy (late 12th century) has it for the folly of love, and c'est folie de is found in the 13th century.[8][4]

Nineteenth-century psychiatry named forms such as folie circulaire (1865), and la folie des grandeurs, megalomania, is of the 20th century; modern psychiatry speaks rather of mental illness.[4][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Dire folie, Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • Late 12th century – The folly of love, Châtelain de Coucy.[8][4]
  • 13th century – C'est folie de.[4]
  • 1690 – Folie “country house”, Furetière.[2]
  • 1865 – Folie circulaire, Littré.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. madness, insanity: accès de folie, folie furieuse, folie des grandeurs, megalomania.[5][1][4]
  2. folly, foolishness; lack of judgment: c'est folie de….[1][4]
  3. A foolish act; an extravagance: faire des folies, to splash out.[1][4]
  4. A wild passion for something.[4]
  5. (architecture) A folly, an extravagant pleasure house.[1][2]
  • fou
  • folle
  • fol
  • folâtre
  • affoler

Usage notes

Folie “luxurious country house” (Furetière, 1690), found in place names from 1185 (La Folie), is probably a separate word: an alteration, after folie “madness”, of feuillée “bower of leaves, hut”, which had Picard forms in -ie; folk etymology explained it by the idea of an extravagant expense.[2][9][3][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 689b
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Folie.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/folie. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·