loyauté

Forms

loyauté f (plural loyautés)^[1] Old French lealted, leauté, lealté and loiauté; the spelling loyauté is found in Adenet in 1273.^[2][3][4] Middle French loyaulte.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French loyal + -té, with the Old French suffix that continues Latin -itās, rather than taken from the Medieval Latin lēgālitās of the same meaning (1103).^[2][5][6] Wiktionary allows that it may correspond to that Medieval Latin noun.^[1] loyal is from Latin lēgālis (“in accordance with the law”), from lēx (“law”).^[6][1]

Cognate with Old Occitan leialtat, Spanish lealtad, Portuguese lealdade and Italian lealtà.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Laws of William the Conqueror (as lealted in the TLFi's dating of 1130), where the GLLF reads it as “legality”;^[2][3][4] Littré quotes the phrase testimoine de leauté.^[2][3][4] Rey and the Grand Robert date the first form loiauté to about 1080 or the end of the 11th century.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

Like the other derivatives of loyal, it belongs to the vocabulary of chivalry that grew up in the 12th century, and names the quality and conduct of a loyal person.^[7] The sense “fidelity to one's word, honour” is found about 1160 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure, while the adjective kept its sense “legal” until the 17th century.^[3][6] The antonym déloyauté is also of the 12th century.^[7][6] Littré recorded the extension to the quality of a thing, as in the loyalty of someone's conduct (1867).^[3]

Littré notes that in the 16th century Théodore de Bèze wanted the first syllable pronounced like loi, while in his own time many said lo-iô-té.^[4] English loyalty (about 1400) comes from Old French loialte, beside an earlier Middle English leaute (mid-13th century).^[8]

Timeline

• 1130 – Lealted in the Laws of William the Conqueror.^[2]
• c. 1160 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses lealté for “fidelity”.^[3]
• c. 1165 – The form loiauté in Gautier d'Arras.^[3]
• 1273 – The spelling loyauté in Adenet.^[3]
• c. 1400 – English borrows the Old French word as loyalty.^[8]
• 1867 – Littré records the sense “loyal character of a thing”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. loyalty, fidelity to one's commitments, and respect for the rules of honour and probity.^[9][2][3]
2. The loyal character of an act or of conduct.^[3][4]
3. (rare, dated) In the plural, loyal characters or loyal people.^[2]

Word family

• déloyauté

Related words

• loyal
• loyalisme
• légalité
• Latin lēgālis
• English loyalty

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert