minuscule

Forms

minuscule (plural minuscules)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin minusculus (“rather small, smallish”), taken to give majuscule an opposite.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is a diminutive of minor (“smaller, less”), the comparative of parvus (“small”);^[6][7] the Grand Robert relates it to minus (“less”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1634, in lettres minuscules, for letters smaller than capitals and of a particular shape.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Furetière (1690) records it as a noun, une minuscule, a small letter.^[2][6] The general sense “very small, tiny” appears only in the 19th century: the TLFi has it from Michelet in 1859, and the GLLF from Larousse in 1874.^[2][8][3] The word has given hardly any derivatives: the rare adverb minusculement and the Goncourts' minusculisé.^[6]

Timeline

• 1634 – Lettres minuscules.^[2]
• 1690 – The noun, in Furetière.^[2]
• 1859 – “Very small”, in Michelet.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very small, tiny: un appartement minuscule.^[9][1]
2. (of a letter) Small, lowercase, as opposed to capital: un b minuscule.^[9][2]

Noun

1. A lowercase letter, a minuscule: écrire en minuscules.^[9][1]

Related words

• majuscule
• moins
• mineur
• Latin minusculus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 129b
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert