inglorieux

Forms

inglorieux (feminine inglorieuse, masculine plural inglorieux, feminine plural inglorieuses)^[1]

Etymology

The modern word is probably formed from French in- + glorieux at the end of the 18th century.^[2] An isolated 14th-century Middle French inglorieus, rare before the 18th century, had been taken from Latin inglōriōsus (“without glory”).^[2][3] The Grand Robert and the GLLF derive the word from the Latin adjective, itself from in- and glōriōsus (“glorious”), and the GLLF takes the word of the 19th century for a French formation.^[4][5]

The TLFi also points to the English word inglorious, used from the 16th century in both senses, which Mercier cited, and to its use in translations from English by Chateaubriand and Baudelaire.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grandes Chroniques de France (14th century) use it of a person who has no glory;^[2] Littré quotes inglorieus et sans honneur from a chronicle of the same period.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

After the medieval record the word was rare until Mercier took it up in 1781.^[2] The GLLF and the Grand Robert date its return to 1801.^[5][4] The sense “bringing no glory”, said of a fight or a victory, is recorded in 1832,^[2] and Delille used it in 1809 of a place where inglorious events took place.^[5] It has remained a literary word.^[2]

Timeline

• 14th century – First record, in the Grandes Chroniques de France, meaning “without glory”.^[2]
• 1781 – Mercier uses the word again.^[2]
• 1809 – Delille uses it of a place where inglorious events took place.^[5]
• 1832 – Raymond records the sense “bringing no glory”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Having won no glory or renown, obscure.^[5][2]
2. (literary) Bringing no glory, inglorious: une défaite inglorieuse.^[2][5]
3. (literary) Of a place, where events without glory took place.^[2][5]

Related words

• glorieux
• gloire
• Latin inglōriōsus
• English inglorious

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF