littérature

Forms

littérature f (plural littératures)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin litterātūra (“writing, learning, literary production”), from littera (“letter”).^[2][3][4][5] Old French also had the inherited lettreüre (“learning”), from the same Latin word, recorded from the 12th to the 14th century.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg date the word to 1432, with an isolated use about 1120 for “writing”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) uses it for what is written, the literal sense of a text, a use found only in the 12th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Continuing the old lettreüre, Middle French used it for learning acquired from books (1495), and this was still its only sense in the 17th century, besides “the body of men of letters” (1680, Richelet).^[2][3] Littré quotes 16th-century texts in which notaries must be examined on their litterature, and Montaigne praises the emperor Julian as excellent en toute sorte de litterature.^[7]

The body of literary works appears from 1736–1740,^[2] and Bloch and Wartburg date the present sense from 1782;^[6] the DHLF places it in the second half of the 18th century, after the change in littéraire.^[3] The sense “everything written on a subject” is recorded in 1758, after the German Literatur.^[3][2] In 1863 Taine used it for the study of literature.^[8][3] It also came to mean what is found in novels as opposed to real life, often pejoratively, as in Verlaine's line Et tout le reste est littérature (1884).^[2][3] In the 20th century it was extended to artistic language that is not written (littérature orale).^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – Philippe de Thaon uses it for the literal sense of a text.^[2]
• 1495 – It means “erudition” in Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial.^[2][3]
• 1680 – Richelet records the sense “men of letters”.^[2][3]
• 1736–1740 – Granet uses it for literary productions as a whole.^[2]
• 1758 – Duhamel du Monceau uses it for what has been written on a subject.^[2][3]
• 1782 – The present sense is established.^[6][8]
• 1863 – Taine uses it for the study of literary works.^[8][3]
• 1884 – Verlaine writes Et tout le reste est littérature.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) Learning, erudition, general culture.^[9][2]
2. (dated) Men of letters as a body.^[2][7]
3. The body of literary works of a nation, language or period: la littérature française.^[9][7]
4. The writer's art, or the profession of letters.^[9]
5. (pejorative) What belongs to books rather than real life; what is artificial or insincere.^[9][2]
6. The study of literary works and their authors.^[9][8]
7. The body of writing published on a subject: la littérature médicale.^[9]
8. (music) The body of works written for an instrument.^[9]

Word family

• paralittérature

Related words

• lettre
• littéraire
• littérateur
• lettré
• Latin litterātūra

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 m n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 379a
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert