gâteux

Forms

gâteux (feminine gâteuse, masculine plural gâteux, feminine plural gâteuses)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French gâter + -eux, the verb being used in its medical sense “to soil oneself, pass urine and stools without control”.^[2][3] The suffix is here a dialect form of -eur, used in mockery; the word began as a pejorative variant of gâteur, one who soils his sheets and clothes, in hospital slang.^[2][4][5][6] Old French gaster already meant “to waste, spill (a liquid)”, and soi gaster “to soil oneself”, in the 12th century.^[2][6]

The verb is from Latin vastō (“to lay waste”), its initial changed to /w/ under the influence of a Germanic stem.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as a noun in the supplement to the Académie's dictionary of 1836, for an invalid who cannot control his bladder or bowels and so soils his bedding;^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg date it to Balzac in the same year.^[4] The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Rey give 1835, in hospital slang.^[5][7][6]

Semantic evolution

By extension, from the middle of the 19th century, gâteux described a person, usually old, whose mental faculties were failing,^[6][3] and by exaggeration, from 1872, it came to mean simply “idiotic”.^[6][7] A further sense, someone made foolish by a strong feeling such as doting love, is dated to Courteline in 1893 by the GLLF.^[3] The noun use for “a person without intelligence” is found in Zola in 1886.^[8]

It gave gâtisme (1868) and gâtifier (about 1950, after bêtifier).^[6]

Timeline

• 1836 – The supplement to the Académie's dictionary records it.^[2][3]
• mid-19th century – Used of a person whose faculties are weakened by age.^[6][3]
• 1868 – The derivative gâtisme appears.^[6]
• 1872 – It is used by exaggeration for “idiotic”.^[6][7]
• 1877 – Littré's supplement records the medical sense of gâter.^[2]
• 1893 – Courteline uses it of someone besotted by a feeling.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Whose physical and mental faculties are weakened by age or, less often, by illness; senile, doddering.^[7][9]
2. (by exaggeration) Stupid, idiotic.^[7][6]
3. (familiar) Made foolish by a strong feeling, besotted: il en est gâteux.^[7][9]
4. (medicine, dated) Suffering from incontinence of urine and stools.^[2][10]

Noun

1. A senile person: un vieux gâteux.^[9][7]

Word family

• gâtisme
• gâtifier

Related words

• gâter
• gaga
• Latin vastō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette