horreur

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɔ.ʁœʁ/^[1]

Forms

horreur f (plural horreurs)^[1] Old French orror, horror, horreur from the 13th century.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin horror (“bristling; shuddering; dread; religious awe”),^{[4][5][6][7][8]} derived from horreō (“to bristle; to shudder”) (see horripiler), of obscure origin.^[5][3] Wiktionary notes that the reason for the feminine gender is unclear;^[1][9] Littré mentions a 16th-century attempt to make it masculine like other nouns with that ending.^[1][9]

Compare Italian orrore, Catalan horror, Spanish horror and Portuguese horror.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie (about 1175) has orror for a feeling of dread or repulsion: Quant de l'orror sis cuers s'effreie, “when his heart takes fright with horror”.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

The first uses refer to what inspires dread or revulsion, as in faire horreur à (Montaigne, 1580) and the literary “sacred awe” (1675); Pascal (1648) takes from Latin l'horreur du vide attributed to nature.^[5][2] From about 1225 it is a strong aversion, avoir horreur de, avoir en horreur.^[5][2] The Latin concrete sense “shiver” was taken up in 1547 (Scève) and lost.^[4][5]

From 1565 (Belleau) it names what inspires horror, first a person and in the 18th century a thing, whence the familiar quelle horreur ! and the plural les horreurs de la mort (d'Aubigné, early 17th century).^[4][5][10] From 1655 des horreurs are infamous deeds, and in the 17th century outrageous accusations.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – Orror, Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[4]
• c. 1225 – “Aversion”.^[5]
• 1547 – “Shiver”, Maurice Scève.^[4]
• 1565 – A thing or person that inspires horror, Belleau.^[4]
• 1580 – Faire horreur, Montaigne.^[2]
• 1648 – L'horreur du vide, Pascal.^[5]
• 1655 – Des horreurs, infamous acts.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. horror, a violent feeling of fear or revulsion: frémir d'horreur, faire horreur à.^[3][1]
2. Strong aversion: avoir horreur de, avoir en horreur, to loathe.^[1][5]
3. (literary) Awe before the sublime or the unknown: une horreur sacrée.^[3][5]
4. The horrible character of something, les horreurs de la mort.^[5]
5. A horrible thing or person, (familiar) an ugly thing, an eyesore: quelle horreur !^[1][5]
6. Des horreurs: atrocities; slanderous things.^[5]
7. Film d'horreur: a horror film.^[1]

Related words

• horrible
• horrifier
• horrifique
• abhorrer
• horripiler

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ 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, 488a
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF