manque

Forms

manque m (plural manques)^[1]

Etymology

Its source is disputed.^[2][3] The TLFi and the DHLF take it as borrowed from Italian manco (“lack, absence of something needed”), a deverbal noun of mancare (“to be lacking”);^[2][4] Wiktionary likewise derives it from the Old Italian noun meaning “lack”.^[1] Bloch and Wartburg, the GLLF and the Petit Robert instead treat it as a deverbal noun from French manquer, formed in French.^[3][5][6] The DHLF notes that the verb itself was borrowed in 1546 from the Italian verb, which has all the senses of the French verb, so that it is hard to tell whether French took them over from Italian or developed them by itself.^[4]

The Italian verb is derived from the homonymous adjective “lacking, defective”, which continues Latin mancus (“maimed, crippled, defective”).^[4][3] The same Latin adjective gave Old French manc “maimed, insufficient” and the French manchot.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

According to the DHLF and the GLLF it first appears about 1360, in Froissart, in the phrase à manque de “for want of”.^[4][5] The TLFi's first record is a letter of Henri IV of 25 November 1594, where manques are slights or offences: des manques que vous avez reçus.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

After the moral sense “offence” (1594), the noun took on, from the 17th century, the senses of the verb manquer: the absence of something necessary (1609), the prepositional phrase manque de “for want of” (1630, with an infinitive from 1656), and by metonymy the thing that is missing, a gap (1656).^[2][4] Agrippa d'Aubigné already wrote le manque de chevaux in the late 16th century.^[7]

Special uses followed: at roulette manque is the low half of the numbers, opposed to passe (1834);^[4][5] manque à gagner “loss of an expected profit” is recorded from Balzac (1845);^[2][4] and in riding the word names a fault (1868).^[2] In the 20th century it came to mean the state of an addict suddenly deprived of a drug, as in être en manque, and figuratively en manque de “deprived of”.^[6][8][5]

Timeline

• c. 1360 – Froissart uses the phrase à manque de “for want of”.^[4][5]
• 1594 – A letter of Henri IV uses manques for offences received.^[2][7]
• 1609 – First record of the sense “absence of a necessary thing”.^[2][4]
• 1630 – Corneille uses manque de with a noun, “for want of”.^[2]
• 1656 – Racan uses it for a thing that is missing, a gap.^[2][4]
• 1791 – Bras à la manque “crippled arm” is recorded at Brest.^[2]
• 1834 – Landais records the roulette sense.^[5][4]
• 1845 – Balzac writes manque à gagner.^[2][4]
• mid-20th century – The drug-withdrawal sense appears.^[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack, absence or serious shortage of something needed: manque de temps, manque de courage.^[6][9]
2. A gap or shortcoming, something that is missing (often plural).^[6][9]
3. The painful feeling left by the absence of someone or something.^[9]
4. The state of a drug addict deprived of the drug, withdrawal: être en manque, crise de manque.^[6][1]
5. Manque à gagner: a loss of expected earnings, a missed profit.^[6][2]
6. (roulette) The first half of the numbers, a simple-chance bet opposed to passe.^[6][4]
7. (dated) Manque de or par manque de: for want of.^[6]

Related words

• manquer
• manchot
• Italian manco
• Latin mancus

Usage notes

The phrase à la manque “worthless, failed, would-be” (artiste à la manque, 1847) uses a feminine word manque.^[6][2] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert enter it as a separate adjective, from Old French manc (1185), from Latin mancus, with the old sense “one-handed” in the 14th century;^[10][6] the TLFi and the DHLF instead think it probably the same borrowing from Italian manco as the masculine noun, its gender due to the final -e, the Italian feminine manca being rare,^[2][4] and the GLLF sees no link with the old adjective.^[5] It is first recorded in bras à la manque “crippled arm” (1791), and in the sense “failed” in 1847;^[2][4] the old slang avoir à la manque “to hate” (1821) is no longer used.^[4] Littré also records a feminine military term une manque, a failure to answer roll call.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert