larron

Forms

larron m (plural larrons, feminine larronne or larronnesse)^[1] Old French ladron, ladrun (late 10th century) and larrun (1130); the subject case was lerre.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French larron, inherited from Latin latrōnem (“bandit, robber”), in the accusative.^[2][4][5][1] The Latin nominative gave the Old French subject case lerre (about 1140).^[2][5] The form with ⟨rr⟩ (about 1176) is a remaking of the older ladron.^[3]

Cognate with Italian ladrone, Old Occitan lairon, Spanish ladrón, with the nominative-based ladro and laire.^[2][5][1][6] The Latin word first meant a Greek mercenary soldier;^[3] Rey derives it from a Greek family of words for hire and service, itself of unclear origin, and notes that folk etymology linked it with lateō (“to be hidden”).^[3] Littré also reports Curtius's comparison with the Greek word for a mercenary.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Passion (late 10th century) ladron is a robber, one of the two brigands crucified with Christ.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “brigand” has survived only in the Gospel story of the two thieves.^[3] From the 11th century the word meant one who steals in secret, a sense now dated; the idea of secrecy gave the old phrase a larron “stealthily” (12th century), and the metonymic sense “theft” (about 1155) was lost in Middle French.^[3][2] Chrétien de Troyes has larron ipocrite (1176–81), and Molière's larron d'honneur (1660) is a seducer of another man's wife.^[2][6]

The word lives on in proverbial phrases: s'entendre comme larrons en foire (1656, Molière; 1594 without en foire), l'occasion fait le larron (1690) and the troisième larron of La Fontaine's fable (1668).^[3][2][7] Technical senses were a channel draining a pond (1600, Olivier de Serres, larron d'eau in Cotgrave, 1611) and, in printing, a fold of paper that blocks part of the impression (1690).^[2][3][7]

Timeline

• late 10th century – Ladron in the Passion.^[2]
• 1130 – Larrun in the Laws of William the Conqueror.^[2]
• c. 1140 – The subject case lere in Gaimar's history of the English.^[2]
• 1176–81 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for a furtive thief.^[2]
• 1600 – Olivier de Serres uses it for a drainage channel.^[3][7]
• 1656 – S'entendre comme larrons en foire appears in Molière.^[2][3]
• 1668 – La Fontaine's fable gives the troisième larron.^[7]
• 1690 – Furetière records the printing sense and l'occasion fait le larron.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A brigand, above all in the Gospel story: les deux larrons, le bon larron, le mauvais larron, the thieves crucified with Christ.^[8][2]
2. (dated) A thief, one who steals furtively.^[8][1][6]
3. S'entendre comme larrons en foire: to be as thick as thieves;^[8][7] l'occasion fait le larron: opportunity makes the thief;^[8][7] le troisième larron: the one who profits from a quarrel between two others.^[8][7]
4. (technical) A channel or spillway for draining water from a pond or basin.^[2][7]
5. (printing) A fold in the paper that keeps part of a sheet from taking the impression.^[2][7]

Word family

• larronneau
• larronner

Related words

• larcin
• Latin latrō

Usage notes

The feminine larronnesse is archaic;^[3][1] larronne is used.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 201a
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert