fragile

Forms

fragile (plural fragiles)^[1] Anglo-Norman had a form fragele, recorded in the late 12th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing borrowed from Latin fragilis (“breakable, brittle, perishable”),^[3][4][5][6] from the family of frangō (“to break”).^[4][5][7] The TLFi dates the first record to Oresme's translation of Aristotle's Ethics (1370–1372), while Rey, the Grand Robert and the GLLF give about 1361 for the same author.^[3][4][7][8] The same Latin word, passed down by regular sound change, became frêle, a doublet.^[4][3][1]

Cognate with Occitan fragil, Spanish frágil and Italian fragile.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Oresme first used it to mean “of little importance”: in his Ethics, whatever good or ill reaches the dead from their living friends' fortunes “semble estre fragile et petite” (seems slight and small).^[8][4][9]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “easily broken” is recorded from 1541, in Calvin, who wrote of God hiding his wisdom in fragile earthen vessels.^[4][8][9] By extension the word meant, from 1651, “lacking solidity, liable to be destroyed”, and in the same period, in religious language, “prone to sin, fallible”, a sense Littré still lists.^[4][8][9]

It is also used of people of delicate health and of organs that are easily upset, and figuratively of feelings or situations that rest on no firm ground; today the figurative use is common in other fields, as in a fragile economy.^[4] The noun fragilité is older than the adjective (about 1119) and replaced an Old French fraileté formed from frêle.^[4][5]

Timeline

• c. 1119 – The noun fragilité is borrowed from Latin fragilitas.^[4]
• c. 1361 – Oresme uses the adjective in the sense “of little importance”.^[4][7][8]
• 1370–1372 – The TLFi's date for the same text.^[3]
• 1541 – Calvin uses it in the sense “easily broken”.^[4][8]
• 1580 – The adverb fragilement is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1651 – Corneille uses it for what lacks solidity, and for human frailty before sin.^[4][8]
• 1956 – The verb fragiliser “make fragile” is formed.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Easily broken, breakable, brittle: Ces verres sont très fragiles.^[10][11][12]
2. Lacking solidity or strength, easily damaged: un mécanisme fragile.^[10][12]
3. Of people, organs or health: delicate, frail, of weak constitution, also lacking mental or emotional resilience: Il a les poumons fragiles.^[10][11][12]
4. Precarious, unstable, easily shaken: un équilibre fragile.^[11][12][1]
5. (archaic) Prone to sin, fallible.^[9][4]

Noun

1. (informal, derogatory) A weak or oversensitive person.^[1]

Word family

• fragilement
• fragiliser
• fragilisation

Related words

• fracture
• frêle
• Latin fragilis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 745a
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)