méticuleux

Forms

méticuleux (feminine méticuleuse, masculine plural méticuleux, feminine plural méticuleuses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin meticulōsus (“fearful, timid”), formed on metus (“fear”) after the model of perīculōsus (“dangerous”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin noun has no known etymology; it survives in Piedmontese, Spanish, Provençal and Portuguese but left nothing in French.^[3] Littré instead derived the Latin adjective from meticulus, a diminutive of the noun.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Budé uses it in 1547, in the Institution du prince, in the Latin sense “fearful”, a rare word in the 16th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1584 it is found in law in the sense “done out of fear”.^[7][8] The word was taken up again at the end of the 18th century in weakened senses: “marked by scruples”, of a person (before 1813, Delille), then the modern “fond of small details, painstaking” (1817, Stendhal).^[2][3] By metonymy it came to describe a piece of work or a behaviour that shows a meticulous mind (1821, Nodier).^[2][3] These later senses developed in French, not in Latin.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1547 – Budé uses it for “fearful”.^[2][3]
• 1584 – J. Duret uses it in law for “done out of fear”.^[7][8]
• Before 1813 – Delille speaks of a ton méticuleux, a scrupulous tone.^[2]
• 1817 – Stendhal uses it for close attention to detail.^[2][3]
• 1821 – Nodier applies it to a book.^[2]
• 1828 – Méticulosité is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1831 – Méticuleusement is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very attentive to the smallest details, meticulous: une infirmière méticuleuse.^[9][2]
2. Of a thing: done with great care and precision, as in un rangement méticuleux.^[9][2]
3. (dated) Overly scrupulous, anxious about trifles.^[2][7]

Word family

• méticuleusement
• méticulosité

Related words

• minutieux
• Latin metus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 61a
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert