fragrance

Forms

fragrance f (plural fragrances)^[1] Old French fraglance (13th century).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin fragrantia (“sweet smell”), a Christian Latin word,^[5][6][1] from Latin fragrō (“to give off a smell”).^[2][4] The TLFi derives it from the verb and only suggests the borrowing as possible.^[2] The Latin verb is also the source of the inherited flairer “to smell”.^[1][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg link its revival to Chateaubriand's liking for words in -ance.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 13th century as fraglance, in a poem on the five joys of Our Lady: De soatume de fraglance “of the sweetness of fragrance”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the form fragrance was used for a pleasant smell or perfume, as in the morality plays and in Évonyme's Tresor (1555), where “sovereign fragrance” is called a “sweet, sharp and warm odour”.^[9][3][4] The word then seems to be absent from 17th- and 18th-century texts.^[4]

It was taken up again in the 19th century:^[2][5] Chateaubriand used it in the Mémoires d'outre-tombe (1822),^[10] and Brillat-Savarin in 1825.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg say that it was rare before Chateaubriand (1830).^[8] It has remained a rare, literary word, now archaic for most dictionaries,^[5][7][2] and Littré called it a Latinism.^[11] The adjective fragrant (1516, revived 1836) shares its fate.^[5]

Timeline

• 13th century – Fraglance appears in a poem on the five joys of Our Lady.^[2][3]
• 1516 – The adjective fragrant is recorded.^[5]
• 16th century – The form fragrance is used in morality plays and in Évonyme.^[9][4]
• 1822 – Chateaubriand uses it in the Mémoires d'outre-tombe.^[10]
• 1825 – Brillat-Savarin uses it in the Physiologie du goût.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, dated) A pleasant smell, a perfume or scent: la fragrance des roses.^[2][7][4]
2. (ironic) A strong, unpleasant smell.^[2]

Related words

• fragrant
• flairer
• parfum
• Latin fragrō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b Huguet, Edmond (1925–1967), Dictionnaire de la langue française du seizième siècle, 7 vols., Paris: Champion / Didier
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette