Etymologically
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heureux

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /œ.ʁø/[1]
  • IPA: /ø.ʁø/[1]

Forms

heureux (feminine heureuse, masculine plural heureux, feminine plural heureuses)[1] Old French euros (late 12th century), eüreus (1213); eureux in the 14th century and heureux from the 15th.[2][3] In the 16th and 17th centuries it was also pronounced hureux, Bèze held this to be the good pronunciation.[4]

Etymology

It is from French heur + -eux, from “heur” “luck, fortune”.[2][5][6][1][7] “Heur” (Old French aür, “eür”) is inherited from Late Latin agurium, an altered form of classical Latin augurium (“omen, augury”), which took the sense “luck, good or bad” as pagan beliefs declined.[8][5] “Heur” owes its ⟨h⟩ to heure, with which it was confused.[5]

Compare Occitan aürós and Spanish agüero (“omen”).[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 12th century in Partonopeu de Blois as euros, meaning “favoured by fate, lucky”.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

From the early 13th century it was said of people “who know happiness”, and in the 13th century of things “favourable, advantageous”.[2][8] Heureuse vie “a happy life” is in Marot (1538), and the exclamation heureux celui qui… ! in Du Bellay (1558).[2][8][3]

In the 17th century it came to mean “successful, apt” of a work or phrase (Boileau, 1674), un heureux caractère a cheerful disposition, and avoir la main heureuse “to be lucky” (1690).[2][8] The plural noun les heureux is recorded in 1654 and faire des heureux in 1701.[2][8] As heur fell out of use after about 1660–1670, heureux, with bonheur and malheur, kept its family alive.[8][5]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Euros “lucky”, in Partonopeu de Blois.[2]
  • Early 13th century – “Happy”, in Pierre de Corbie.[2]
  • 1213 – Eüreus in the Fet des Romains.[3][5]
  • 1538 – Heureuse vye in Marot.[2]
  • 1654 – Les heureux, as a noun.[2]
  • 1674 – “Apt, felicitous”, in Boileau.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. happy, contented: un homme heureux, heureux comme un roi.[3][1]
  2. Heureux de: glad, pleased: heureux de vous voir.[1][3]
  3. lucky, fortunate: heureux au jeu, malheureux en amour.[9]
  4. (of things) Favourable: un heureux hasard, un heureux événement “a birth”.[9][1]
  5. Apt, successful: une heureuse expression.[2][1]
  6. Encore heureux: it's just as well.[1][10]

Noun

  1. A happy person: faire des heureux.[1][8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  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, 887b
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF