impie

Forms

impie (plural impies)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin impius (“lacking in dutiful piety, sacrilegious”),^{[2][3][4][1][5]} formed from the negative prefix in- and pius (“dutiful, pious”).^[2][6][7] The word is indirectly attested in the 15th century by the altered form impieux (1482), reshaped after pieux.^[2][3]

Littré compares Italian empio.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg date it to the 15th century, in the sense “showing contempt for religion, having no religion”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was used first of people, then from 1636 of things that are irreligious or offend religion.^[3] From 1606 (Crespin) it was extended to whatever offends values everyone respects.^[2][3][7]

The noun is more common than the adjective.^[3] In 1544 Maurice Scève used it for a pitiless person, a sense lost in classical French;^[2][3] the noun for an ungodly person is recorded before 1636.^[2][3] Today the Petit Robert labels the adjective dated or literary.^[9]

Timeline

• 1400s – First record, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[2][4]
• 1482 – The altered form impieux appears.^[2][3]
• 1544 – Maurice Scève uses it as a noun for a pitiless person.^[2][3]
• 1606 – Crespin applies it to what offends commonly respected values.^[2][7]
• before 1636 – The noun “ungodly person” is recorded.^[2]
• 1636 – It is first used of things.^[3][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated or literary) Having no religion, or scorning religion; impious, ungodly.^[9][2][7]
2. Of words or acts: showing contempt for religion; blasphemous: des propos impies.^[9][8]
3. (literary) Offending values that everyone respects.^[7][8]

Noun

1. An unbeliever, an atheist; a person who insults religion and sacred things.^[9][8]

Related words

• impiété
• pieux
• pie²
• Latin impius

References

1. ^ a b c 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 f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 590a
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert