Etymologically
Log in

hasard

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:02. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.zaʁ/[1]

Forms

hasard m (plural hasards)[1] Old French hasart (12th century); hazard in the 15th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Spanish azar (“an unlucky throw at dice; a dice game”), recorded in 1283 in Alfonso the Wise's book of games, from Arabic الزهر (az-zahr, “the die”), with the article “al” assimilated before “z”.[2][4][5][6] The ⟨h-⟩ reflects the medieval habit of writing foreign words beginning with a vowel with “h”, and was later pronounced as an aspirate h.[2][4][1]

The sense “die” is not found in Classical Arabic, so Corominas started from زهر (zahr, “flower”), a flower being painted on one face of the die; others proposed يسر (yasara, “to play at dice”).[2][4][3] Medieval writers such as William of Tyre told that the game was invented at the siege of a castle called Hasart in Syria.[7]

Compare Spanish azar and Italian zara; Italian azzardo comes from French.[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Everard de Kirkham's version of the Distichs of Cato (about 1150) uses hasart for a game of dice; in 1200 Jean Bodel's Jeu de saint Nicolas uses it for a winning throw at that game (the six).[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The dice game gave jeu de hasard “game of chance” (1538).[4] From the early 13th century hasart meant a nasty blow, whence “risk, danger” (15th century), now dated except in les hasards de la guerre.[2][4] In the early 16th century it came to mean a chance event, and by 1573 the unknown cause of such events, as sort and fortune were used; later science spoke of les lois du hasard.[2][4]

Adverbial phrases followed: au hasard (Montaigne, 1580), à tout hasard (late 16th century) and par hasard (1636), which replaced the bare adverb hasart (1532).[4][2] The golfing hasard (1906) is borrowed back from English hazard.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1150 – Hasart, a dice game.[2]
  • 1200 – A throw at dice, Jean Bodel.[2]
  • 15th century – Hazard “risk, danger”.[2]
  • early 16th century – A chance event.[2]
  • 1538 – Jeu de hasard.[4]
  • 1580 – Au hasard, Montaigne.[4]
  • 1636 – Par hasard.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. chance; the unforeseeable cause of events: le hasard fait bien les choses.[9][1]
  2. A chance event, coincidence: quel hasard !.[9][1]
  3. Par hasard: by chance, au hasard: at random, à tout hasard: just in case.[4][1]
  4. Jeu de hasard: a game of chance.[9][4]
  5. (dated) Risk, danger, les hasards de la guerre.[9][4]
  6. (golf) A hazard.[1][4]

Word family

  • hasarder
  • hasardeur
  • hasardeux

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  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. ^ 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. 19, 204a
  7. ^ 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