indulgent

Forms

indulgent (feminine indulgente, masculine plural indulgents, feminine plural indulgentes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin indulgēns (“kind, obliging, lenient”), the present participle, used as an adjective, of indulgeō (“to be favourable to, give oneself up to”).^[2][3][1] The verb meant “to be favourable to”, then “to give way to” and, in imperial Latin, “to grant as a favour”; its origin is disputed.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in a religious context in C. Marot's Rondeaux (1542; the DHLF gives 1540, the Grand Robert about 1530), meaning “who forgives easily”.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1580 Garnier used être indulgent à for giving way easily to something, a sense now gone.^[2][3] By metonymy the adjective was applied to things that show indulgence, such as a judgement or a look.^[3][5] During the Revolution les indulgents (1794) was the name for the followers of Danton and C. Desmoulins, who wanted to end the Terror.^[3][6][7] The adverb indulgemment (1557) has gone out of use.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1542 – Marot uses it of a God who forgives easily.^[2]
• 1557 – First record of indulgemment.^[2][3]
• 1573 – Date of first record in Bloch and Wartburg.^[8]
• 1580 – Garnier uses indulgent à “giving way to”.^[2][3]
• 1794 – Les indulgents names the Dantonists.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Ready to excuse and forgive the faults of others, lenient.^[5][2]
2. Of things: showing indulgence, kindly.^[5][7]

Noun

1. (history) Les indulgents: the Dantonists, who wanted to end the Terror in 1794.^[3][6]

Related words

• indulgence
• Latin indulgeō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France