heur

Forms

heur m (plural heurs)^[1] Old French oür, aür and eür, words of two syllables; the spelling heur is first found in 1306, in Joinville.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French eür (earlier oür, aür), inherited from Late Latin agurium, an altered form found in imperial times of the classical augurium (“augury, omen”), the regular sound development of the Latin word.^[3][2][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg start from a popular *agūrium.^[4] Rey places the Latin word in the family of augeō (“to increase”).^[2] The word is a doublet of augure, borrowed from Latin.^[1]

The initial ⟨h⟩ came in during the Middle Ages through confusion with heure, the word for an hour, especially in phrases with bon and mal.^[3][4][1] Littré rejects the old derivation of the word from Latin hōra, since the Old French forms all had two syllables.^[5]

Cognate with Walloon aweure (“luck, omen”), Old Occitan aür (“omen”), Spanish agüero (“omen”), Portuguese agouro and Italian augurio.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears about 1121 in the Voyage de saint Brendan, in bon oür “a happy fate, good luck”, where the word already means “fate, destiny”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin “omen” became “fate, lot, destiny” as pagan beliefs receded,^[2][4][3] and then “chance, good or bad”; used on its own the word meant “good luck, happiness” from about 1190.^[3][2] The phrase avoir l'heur de “to have the good fortune to” is recorded from 1540.^[3]

Heur was still current in the 17th century, in Corneille and Molière, but it was ageing after 1660–1670;^[2] La Bruyère regretted it, and Richelet (1680) called it low and little used.^[2] It was displaced by its compounds bonheur and malheur, both of the 12th century;^[4] Bloch and Wartburg think the clash of heur with heure helped bonheur to win.^[4] Today it survives mainly in avoir l'heur de plaire, and ironically in the negative, while its derivatives and compounds are in full use;^[2][8] Bloch and Wartburg note that it still lives in some north-eastern dialects.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1121 – Bon oür “good luck” appears in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[3][2]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses a boen eür “luckily” in Erec.^[3]
• c. 1190 – A life of Saint Thomas uses the word on its own for “luck, happiness”.^[3]
• 1306 – Joinville writes the form heur.^[3][9]
• 1540 – Avoir l'heur de appears in Herberay des Essarts' Amadis.^[3]
• 1666 – Molière uses avoir l'heur de plaire.^[9]
• 1680 – Richelet calls the word low and little used.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records heur et malheur.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) What befalls someone, for good or ill; fortune.^[3]
2. (dated, literary) Good fortune, luck.^{[3][10][11][1]}
3. Avoir l'heur de (+ infinitive): to have the good fortune or the pleasure of; now mostly in the negative and often ironic, n'avoir pas l'heur de plaire “not to have the luck to please”: Il n'a jamais eu l'heur de plaire à son patron.^{[3][10][8][11]}

Word family

• heureux
• bonheur
• bienheureux
• malheureux
• malheur

Related words

• augure
• Latin augurium

Usage notes

The proverbial il n'y a qu'heur et malheur (in this world) says that good and bad luck are dealt out by chance.^[3] Heur is a homophone of heure and heurt.^[10][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 886a
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)