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jalousie

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Etymology and origin of the French word jalousie

jalousie1 jealousy

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1181–1191 Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ζῆλος
Etymology tree of jalousie1
inherited borrowed derived
French jaloux
French jalousie

Pronunciation

Forms

jalousie f (plural jalousies)[1] Old French jalosie and gelosie.[2][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include gelusie and gelousie.[4]

Etymology

The word for jealousy is formed from French jaloux + -ie.[2][1][5] The adjective goes back to Late Latin zēlōsus (“full of love and care”), from zēlus (“zeal”), from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “eagerness, rivalry, envy”);[3][6] its ending is usually explained by a borrowing of Old Occitan gelos from the love poetry of the troubadours.[3][6] Bloch and Wartburg note that gelosia is recorded about 1190.[6]

Cognate with Italian gelosia, Catalan gelosia and Spanish celosía.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval (1181–1191) has jalosie for the anxiety felt about the faithfulness of the person one loves.[2][3] The Grand Robert and the GLLF date the word to about 1170, in Floire et Blancheflore, where the king entra en jalousie for fear that someone was lying with his beloved.[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

In the mid-13th century gelosie also meant a fierce attachment to a good or an advantage, as in the Old French Maccabees, where it is zeal for the law;[2][10] like the matching sense of jaloux, this use is now literary.[3] The common sense “envy of what another has” is recorded only in 1501, long after the adjective had it.[2][3] The phrase crever de jalousie is recorded by Larousse in 1869.[9]

Timeline

  • 1181–1191 – Jalosie in Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval.[2]
  • Mid-13th century – Gelosie “fierce attachment” in the Maccabees.[2]
  • 1501 – The sense “envy” appears.[2][3]
  • 1869 – Larousse records crever de jalousie.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Jealousy in love: the painful fear that the person one loves may prefer someone else.[5][2][1]
  2. Envy, resentment at an advantage that another person enjoys: la jalousie entre deux voisins.[5][10]
  3. (literary) A keen and watchful attachment to something one holds dear.[2][5]

jalousie2 Venetian blind

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1549 Estienne
Borrowed from
Italian gelosia
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ζῆλος

Pronunciation

Forms

jalousie f (plural jalousies)[1]

Etymology

The word for the blind is borrowed from Italian gelosia, its form adapted to that of the French word for jealousy.[2][3][6] In Italian the noun for jealousy had come to name, by metonymy, a lattice that hid women from view, first of the East (before 1494).[2][3] The Italian noun is formed from geloso (“jealous”), of the same origin as jaloux.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Estienne's dictionary of 1549, as a wooden or wrought-iron lattice behind which one could see without being seen.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Since 1757 the word has named a movable shutter made of thin parallel slats whose angle can be changed.[2][3] Because jalousie “jealousy” is so much more frequent, the word keeps psychological overtones;[3] Robbe-Grillet's novel La Jalousie plays on both words.[3] English took the word in 1766 for the blind, from the idea of watching unseen.[11]

Timeline

  • 1549 – Estienne records it for a lattice screen.[2]
  • 1757 – It names a shutter of movable slats.[2][3]
  • 1766 – English borrows it as jalousie.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A Venetian blind or shutter of thin movable slats.[2][1][5]
  2. (historical) A wooden or iron lattice allowing one to see without being seen.[2][1]
  • jaloux
  • jalouser
  • jalousement
  • zèle

Usage notes

The TLFi numbers the two words as here (jalousie 1 and 2); the Grand Robert treats the blind as a sense of its jalousie 1 and keeps the number 2 for a plant name, jalousie (1542), now sweet william, an alteration after jalousie of gelesie (15th century), Medieval Latin gelesia, probably from a Gaulish word.[8][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Jalousie.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/jalousie. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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