frileux

Forms

frileux (feminine frileuse, masculine plural frileux, feminine plural frileuses)^[1] Old French fruileus (late 12th century), friuleus, frïeleus (about 1223); Middle French frillous (about 1330); frileux from about 1360.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French frïeleus, inherited from Late Latin frīgorōsus (“cold, icy”), which is from Latin frīgus (“cold”).^[4][2][5][6] After the /g/ fell silent, the second /r/ was changed to /l/ by dissimilation, giving friuleus and the later form.^[4][2] Diez, followed by Littré, derived it instead from Vulgar Latin *frigidulōsus, formed on Latin frigidulus, a diminutive of frigidus (“cold”);^[7] Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[1]

The word is rare outside French;^[5] cognate with Romanian friguros and Spanish frioloso (“frosty”), and compare Old Occitan freguros.^[8][5][1] Littré cites dialect forms such as Walloon froûleûs.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gautier de Coinci's Miracles de Notre-Dame (about 1223) has les frïeleus for people who are cold.^[4] The GLLF gives an earlier form, fruileus, from the Roman d'Alexandre at the end of the 12th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The senses “who is cold” (12th century) and “where cold is felt” (end of the 14th century) have gone out of use;^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word was sometimes said of the weather.^[5] The modern sense “who fears the cold” appears about 1330 in Nicole Bozon, and by extension the adjective describes what shows a fear of cold.^[4][2]

Used metaphorically from 1836 (Vidocq), frileux means “timid, overcautious”, a use now common in politics.^[2][9] By metonymy une frileuse was a woollen hood worn against the cold (1849).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – Frïeleus in Gautier de Coinci.^[4]
• c. 1330 – Frillous “who fears the cold” in Nicole Bozon.^[4][2]
• c. 1360 – The form frileux appears, in Froissart.^[10][3][2]
• Late 14th century – Eustache Deschamps uses it of cold weather.^[3][7]
• 1836 – Figurative sense “timid”, in Vidocq.^[2]
• 1842 – frileusement is recorded.^[2]
• 1845 – frilosité is recorded.^[2]
• 1849 – Frileuse “woollen hood”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very sensitive to the cold: ma grand-mère est très frileuse.^[9][4][1]
2. Showing the effect or fear of cold: une posture frileuse.^[9][4]
3. (figurative) Timid, overcautious, slow to act: une politique frileuse.^[9][2][1]
4. (dated, literary) Where the cold is felt.^[3]

Noun

1. A person who feels the cold: vous êtes un frileux.^[7][4]
2. (dated) Frileuse: a woollen hood worn against the cold.^[2]

Word family

• frileusement
• frilosité

Related words

• froid
• Latin frīgus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
5. ^ a b c d 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, 802a
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert