ironique

Forms

ironique (plural ironiques)^[1] Middle French yronicque.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin īrōnicus (“ironic”), from Ancient Greek εἰρωνικός (eirōnikós, “feigning ignorance”).^[2][4][3] The Greek adjective is derived from εἴρων (eírōn, “dissembler”).^[4][5] The word is probably older than its first record, since the adverb ironiquement is found about 1500.^[2][4][3] Within French it can also be read as ironie with the suffix -ique.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1521 in Pierre Fabri's treatise on rhetoric, in figure yronicque, an ironic figure of speech.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It began as a term of rhetoric.^[4] Montaigne wrote ironique in its modern spelling in 1588, of a mocking confession.^[3][6] From the 19th century it took the wider sense of the noun ironie and was said of events: Chateaubriand used it in 1831.^[4][3] Of a person who likes to use irony it is first found in Vigny, before 1863.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – The adverb ironiquement is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1521 – Yronicque appears in Pierre Fabri's Rhétorique.^[2]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses the spelling ironique.^[3]
• 1831 – Chateaubriand applies it to events.^[4][3]
• before 1863 – Vigny uses it of people given to irony.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Showing or containing irony, mocking: un regard ironique.^[7][8]
2. Of a person, given to using irony: une romancière ironique.^[7][8][3]
3. (figurative) Of events, making a strange and derisive contrast.^[8][7]

Word family

• ironiquement

Related words

• ironie
• Late Latin īrōnicus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)