Etymologically
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lourd

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Pronunciation

Forms

lourd (feminine lourde, masculine plural lourds, feminine plural lourdes)[1] Old French lort, lorz (about 1160–65), lourt (about 1330), lourd from the 13th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Old French lort, inherited from Late Latin lurdus, an alteration of lūridus (“sallow, wan, lurid”).[4][5][6][1][7] The popular form “lurdus” is attested in the glosses of Rabanus Maurus, translated “fûl” “rotten”.[4][8] The development of sense is difficult, since the physical sense “heavy” came late: Bloch and Wartburg pass from “wan” to “giddy”, the sense of dialect “lourd” “having the staggers” (of sheep), and, from there to “dull, stupid”.[6][5] The FEW rejects that chain on chronological grounds, Pierre Guiraud proposed instead “*luridus” “swollen like a wineskin”, from lūra (“wineskin”), which raises problems of form.[4][5][2] Wiktionary allows the influence of Frankish “*lort” “clumsy”.[1]

Compare Italian lordo (“dirty”) and Old Occitan lort (“foolish”).[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165) lorz means dazed, oafish; about 1170 Béroul's Tristan has lort “foolish, stupid”.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its early senses concern people: stupid (12th century), coarse, boorish (about 1330), clumsy (15th century).[4][5] About 1275 Jean de Meun uses it for “heavy, massive”, but the physical sense “weighty” became common only in the 16th century (1554), when it supplanted grave in that sense.[4][5][6] Figurative uses followed: a heavy burden (1388–89), heavy sleep (1573), lourde faute (1559), heavy, sultry weather (1810), a heavy style.[4][5] The 19th and 20th centuries added artillerie lourde (1863), poids lourd (1910), eau lourde and industrie lourde; in recent slang lourd means tiresome, and the back-slang relou comes from it.[5][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1160 – Lort, Roman de Tristan.[2][3]
  • c. 1275 – “Heavy, massive”, Jean de Meun.[4]
  • 1306 – Lourdeau, later lourdaud.[6]
  • 1554 – Of weight, Thevet.[4]
  • 1559 – Lourde faute, Amyot.[4]
  • 1810 – “Oppressive”, Madame de Staël.[4]
  • 1863 – Artillerie lourde.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. heavy: une valise lourde, poids lourd, a heavy goods vehicle.[10][1]
  2. Heavy, ponderous; clumsy, oafish: une démarche lourde, un esprit lourd.[10][1]
  3. Serious, grave: une lourde responsabilité, une lourde faute.[4][10]
  4. Of the weather, sultry, close: il fait lourd.[1][11]
  5. Heavy-handed, lacking subtlety: une plaisanterie lourde, un style lourd.[10][8]
  6. Lourd de: fraught with: lourd de conséquences.[3][1]
  7. (familiar) Tiresome, a drag.[1]

Adverb

  1. Peser lourd: to weigh a lot, (familiar) pas lourd, not much: il n'en fait pas lourd.[11][4]

Word family

  • lourdaud
  • lourdement
  • lourdeur
  • lourdingue
  • alourdir
  • alourdissement
  • relou

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c 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 h i j k l m n o 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 465b
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)