guerrier

Forms

guerrier m (plural guerriers, feminine guerrière)^[1] Old French guerrer and guerreier.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from French guerre + -ier.^[2][3][1] The noun itself comes through Early Medieval Latin werra from Frankish *werʀu (“confusion, quarrel”);^[1][4] Bloch and Wartburg note that this Germanic word drove out Latin bellum (“war”), which disappeared with the military organisation of the Roman Empire.^[3]

Compare Old Occitan guerrier, Spanish guerrero, Portuguese guerreiro and Italian guerriere.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as guerrer in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), for a man who wages war:^[2][6] Li quens Rolanz fut nobile guerrer “Count Roland was a noble warrior”.^[5] The Grand Robert and the DHLF date it 1080 and gloss it as a person with a taste for war.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the word could also mean an adversary, someone who does another harm: Littré quotes ma guerriere “my enemy” from the 13th century and the Renart's wolf Ysengrin as Renart's guerriers, the one who hated him mortally.^[5] The Grande Larousse dates the sense “hostile” to about 1112.^[8]

As a noun it was the noble word beside soldat, which won out in the classical period; today it is used only of fighting men of the past.^[6] The adjective, found once about 1200, came into use in the 16th century for what relates to war (1572 in the TLFi, 1562 in the DHLF) and, in Montaigne from 1580, for a people or a person inclined to war.^[2][6] The phrase le repos du guerrier now stands for the rest a man finds with a woman.^[9][10] The feminine guerrière was also used, now dated, of a young woman who aggressively claims her place in society, and of a feminist activist.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Guerrer “man who wages war” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1112 – The Old French adjective is used for “hostile”, in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[8]
• c. 1200 – An isolated adjectival use, ome guerier, in Aiol.^[2][6]
• 1572 – Rémy Belleau uses the adjective for “relating to war”.^[2]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it for “inclined to war”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A person whose role was to wage war, a warrior.^[10][9][2]
2. Le guerrier: the man of war, the soldier as a type.^[10][9]
3. Le repos du guerrier (figurative): the rest a man finds with a woman.^[9][10]
4. (dated, feminine) A young woman who claims her place in society aggressively, also a feminist activist.^[11]

Adjective

1. (literary) Relating to war or combat, martial: une musique guerrière.^[10][9][8]
2. Inclined to war, warlike, bellicose: une tribu guerrière.^[10][9][8]

Related words

• guerre
• guerroyer
• aguerrir

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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 567a
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)