intempérant

Forms

intempérant (feminine intempérante, masculine plural intempérants, feminine plural intempérantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin intemperāns (“without measure or restraint, excessive, incontinent, dissolute”), recorded in 1552.^[2][3][4] The Latin word is formed from the negative prefix in- and temperāns (“restrained, moderate”), the present participle of temperō (“to mix in due proportion, to moderate”).^[4][5][6] Bloch and Wartburg date the French word to 1541, and the GLLF to the middle of the 16th century in Amyot.^[7][5] It belongs with intempérance, borrowed earlier (1370, Oresme) from Latin intemperantia.^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1552 Guéroult's Chronique des empereurs uses it in the Latin sense of a person who has the vice of intemperance, unruly in his passions.^[2][3] In the same century Amyot contrasts the two: “L'intemperant est bien aise et se resjouit d'avoir peché ; l'incontinent en a douleur et regret” (“the intemperate man is glad and rejoices at having sinned; the incontinent man feels grief and regret for it”).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first, broad sense “unruly in one's passions”, and phrases such as esprit intempérant (Saint-Évremond, before 1703), have gone out of use.^[3][2] The word kept the idea of lack of measure and narrowed to a person who overindulges at table, especially in drink, used also as a noun from Pascal on, and then to one who gives way to the pleasures of the flesh (Bossuet, 1690).^[3][2] The Académie has recorded it since 1694.^[2] Today the general sense “immoderate, excessive” is literary or learned, said also of things, as of a too generous use of something.^[4][8][5]

Timeline

• 1541 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the first record.^[7]
• 1552 – Guéroult uses it of a person unruly in his passions.^[2][3]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it, according to the GLLF, in the sense of overindulging.^[5]
• 1690 – Bossuet uses it of one who gives way to the pleasures of the flesh.^[2][3]
• 1694 – The Académie française enters the word.^[2]
• Before 1703 – Saint-Évremond writes esprit intempérant.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Immoderate, lacking moderation or restraint, excessive: un emploi intempérant des adjectifs.^[2][4][8][9]
2. Given to overindulgence in food and drink, or in sexual pleasures; intemperate, not sober.^[2][8][10]

Noun

1. An intemperate person: c'est un intempérant.^[2][10][9]

Related words

• intempérance
• tempérant
• tempérance
• tempérer
• Latin intemperāns

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)