horrifique

Forms

horrifique (plural horrifiques)^[1] Middle French horrificque.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin horrificus (“frightening, dreadful”), an imperial Latin word.^[4][5][1][6] The Latin adjective is formed from horror (“horror”) or horreō (“to bristle, to shudder”) and faciō (“to make”).^[7][5][8][3] Picoche places it in the same Latin family as horreur, horrible and the popular ordure.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the second half of the 15th century in Jean Molinet's Faictz et dictz, meaning “frightening”.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The word was frequent in the 16th century, especially in Rabelais, whose Gargantua was titled La Vie très horrificque du grand Gargantua.^[4][11][3] Physicians also used it for what makes one shiver: Ambroise Paré speaks of a fièvre horrifique.^[12][8] Littré already counted it as a word of the Marotic style,^[8] and today it is literary and used mostly in jest.^[11][4][13] The verb horrifier, borrowed in the mid-19th century from Latin horrificare, and horrification (1896, Verlaine) were shaped partly by it.^[11]

Timeline

• 1467–1506 – Jean Molinet uses horrificque.^[4][10]
• 1542 – Rabelais's Vie très horrificque du grand Gargantua.^[3]
• 16th century – Ambroise Paré writes of a fièvre horrifique, a fever that makes one shiver.^[8][12]
• 1896 – Verlaine's horrification is modelled on it.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary, jocular) horrific, dreadful; such as to cause horror: une grimace horrifique.^{[4][14][15][3]}
2. (obsolete) Causing shivering.^[12][8]

Related words

• horreur
• horrible
• horrifier
• horrifiant
• abhorrer
• Latin horrificus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 488a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
11. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b c Huguet, Edmond (1925–1967), Dictionnaire de la langue française du seizième siècle, 7 vols., Paris: Champion / Didier
13. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
14. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
15. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)