inquiétude

Forms

inquiétude f (plural inquiétudes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin inquiētūdō (“restlessness, agitation”), in Christian Latin also “absence of moral rest, anxiety”.^[2][3] The Latin noun comes from inquiētus (“restless”),^[4][5] the source of inquiet.^[5]

The TLFi dates the borrowing to 1447 in the Internelle Consolacion, which the GLLF dates to 1403,^[2][4] and the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert put it in the 14th century.^[5][6] Old French also had inquietudine, a separate borrowing, and an isolated altered form enquetume (about 1230).^[2][3] The verb inquiéter is older (12th century).^[1]

Cognate with Occitan inquietut, Spanish inquietud and Italian inquietudine.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Internelle Consolacion it means lack of rest.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, lack of rest, has gone out of use.^[3] From 1530 it meant agitation of a dissatisfied mind.^[3][2] Montaigne (1580) used it for a painful state caused by expecting or fearing something, the usual sense today.^[3][2]

At the end of the 16th century, with its first value, it was used of bodily restlessness (Paré, before 1590), and in the plural des inquiétudes (before 1685) meant slight pains in the limbs that make one fidgety;^[3][2] these senses have disappeared, but avoir des inquiétudes dans les jambes (1878), figuratively “to feel like kicking someone”, was used around 1900.^[3]

In philosophical and moral use the word kept an unfavourable value, linked to instability, until the 19th century; the idea of fear now dominates.^[3]

Timeline

• 1447 – The Internelle Consolacion uses it for lack of rest.^[2]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records it for agitation of mind.^[2]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it for a state of anxiety or perplexity.^[2]
• before 1590 – Ambroise Paré speaks of an inquietude du corps that keeps one awake.^[2][7]
• 1648 – Rotrou uses it for a state of fear.^[2]
• before 1685 – Des inquiétudes “slight pains in the limbs”.^[2][3]
• 1878 – Avoir des inquiétudes dans les jambes appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. worry, anxiety: a painful state caused by waiting for or fearing something: son silence nous cause une vive inquiétude.^[6][1]
2. (literary, philosophy) The restlessness of a mind that is never satisfied.^[6][2]
3. (dated) Lack of rest, agitation.^[6][7]
4. (literary) Restless motion, as of leaves or water.^[2]

Related words

• inquiet
• inquiéter
• quiétude
• Latin inquietus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette