Etymologically
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honneur

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɔ.nœʁ/[1]
  • IPA: /ɔnɶ̝ʁ/[1]

Forms

honneur m (plural honneurs)[1] Old French honor, onor, enor, eneur;[2] honneur from the 13th century, remade after Latin.[3][2] Feminine in Old French, like other nouns from Latin -or, it became masculine from the 14th century.[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French honor, inherited from Latin honor (“honour paid to gods or men; public office”) (classical “honōs”),[6][2][7][1][8] a word of obscure origin.[9] Bloch and Wartburg call it a borrowing from Latin.[4] The popular forms “enor”, “eneur” were remade after the Latin spelling.[2][7]

Compare Italian onore, Spanish honor and Occitan onor.[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Léger (second half of the 10th century) uses it for a mark of veneration or esteem, and also for an office or charge.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

From the 6th century Latin honor named charges granted to counts and royal officers with their lands, and in Old French honneur meant an office and then a fief or domain (Roland, about 1100).[2][6][4] These senses disappeared, leaving les honneurs, titles and distinctions.[2]

The esteem one enjoys (Alexis, mid-11th century) and the sense of one's own dignity (Roland) became the moral principle of honour,[6] for a woman her chastity (Wace, about 1145).[6] Phrases include point d'honneur (Montaigne, 1580), parole d'honneur (1694), faire honneur à (1679) and François I's “Tout est perdu, fors l'honneur”.[3][6][9] In cards the honneurs are the court cards.[1]

Timeline

  • second half of the 10th century – Honor (Saint Léger).[6][7]
  • mid-11th century – Esteem (Alexis).[6]
  • c. 1100 – A fief (Roland).[6]
  • 14th century – Becomes masculine.[4][5]
  • 1580 – Point d'honneur (Montaigne).[3]
  • 1694 – Parole d'honneur.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Honour; moral integrity and self-respect: une question d'honneur.[9][1]
  2. Esteem, credit: c'est tout à son honneur.[9]
  3. (plural) Honours, distinctions: rendre les honneurs.[9][2]
  4. (cards) A court card, an honour.[1]
  • déshonneur
  • honnête
  • honorable
  • honoraire
  • honoré
  • honorer
  • honorifique
  • English honour

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  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. ^ a b c d 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. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 465b
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert