malaise

Forms

malaise m (plural malaises)^[1] In Old French it was mostly feminine,^[2] and dictionaries gave it as feminine until the Académie's of 1718.^[3]

Etymology

It is a compound from French mal + aise, of the adjective meaning "bad" (feminine male) and the noun meaning "ease",^{[4][3][5][6][1]} used at first in adverbial phrases such as a malaise and a grant malaise.^[4][3][2] aise goes back to Vulgar Latin adjacēns, the present participle of adjaceō (“to lie near”) used as a noun meaning "surroundings".^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears about 1135 in the Couronnement de Louis, in [estre] a malaise, for a state of ill-being, of not being at one's ease.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

About 1200 it also meant anxiety, torment of mind (L'Escoufle),^[4] and in Old French a difficulty (1190), a sense since lost.^[2] From before 1316 it was used of financial hardship, as in être dans le malaise, which the Académie recorded from 1798 to 1878 and which is now dated.^[4][2]

From 1587 (Malherbe) it named a painful sensation, both mental and physical, then early in the 19th century a disorder of health.^[4][2] Figuratively it came to mean unrest in society or opinion (Joseph de Maistre, 1810, un malaise d'opinion), with malaise social in George Sand (1832), and later (1873) a latent crisis.^[4][2][5] English malaise was borrowed from Old French about 1300; its present sense of vague unease is perhaps a borrowing from modern French in the mid-18th century.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1135 – A malaise in the Couronnement de Louis.^[4]
• 1137 – First record as a noun.^[2][5]
• c. 1200 – It means anxiety, torment of mind.^[4]
• c. 1300 – English malaise is borrowed from Old French.^[8]
• Before 1316 – Jehan Maillart uses it for financial hardship.^[4]
• 1587 – Malherbe uses it for a painful bodily sensation.^[4][2]
• 1718 – The Académie gives it as masculine.^[3]
• 1810 – Joseph de Maistre writes of un malaise d'opinion.^[4]
• 1832 – Malaise social in George Sand's Indiana.^[4]
• 1873 – It is used for a latent crisis.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) Financial difficulty, hardship.^[9][4]
2. A painful, often vague sensation of bodily discomfort.^[9][1] Être pris d'un malaise: to faint.^[9][1]
3. (figurative) A painful, irrational feeling of unease that one cannot fight off.^[9][1]
4. Unrest or latent crisis in society: le malaise social.^[9][4]

Related words

• aise
• mal
• malaisé
• aisance
• English malaise

Usage notes

The same spelling is also the feminine of malais “Malay”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b 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. 24, 153b
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert