Etymologically
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miracle

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mi.ʁakl/[1]

Forms

miracle m (plural miracles)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mīrāculum (“wonder, marvel”), taken in the religious sense the word had acquired in Church Latin.[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun is derived, through mīror (“to wonder at”) (see admirer, mirer), from mīrus (“astonishing, wonderful”).[3][5] The inherited Old French mirail (“mirror”) goes back to the same family.[1] In the Middle Ages it was sometimes feminine.[4]

Cognate with Old Occitan miracle, Spanish milagro, Portuguese milagre and Italian miracolo.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (mid-11th century) uses it for an event not explained by natural causes and attributed to divine intervention.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

At first it was very close to merveille, which also expressed astonishment.[3] By metonymy it named, from Rutebeuf's Miracle de Théophile (about 1258), a popular religious play staging the miracles of the Virgin or the saints, a major genre of medieval theatre.[2][3]

By extension it took the lay sense “astonishing thing” (Jean de Meun, about 1269–1278), with c'est un miracle (1579), crier au miracle (1659, Corneille) and tenir du miracle (1688, Bossuet).[2][3] It also meant “a thing worthy of admiration”, as in les sept miracles du monde (1567); from the 17th century this and the hyperbolic “unexpected success” were felt as metaphors of the religious sense.[2][3] Furetière (1690) notes the hyperbole c'est un miracle de vous voir.[2][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – A divine miracle, in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1258 – A miracle play, Rutebeuf's Miracle de Théophile.[2][3]
  • 1269–1278 – “Astonishing thing”, in Jean de Meun.[2]
  • 1314 – The adjective miraculeux.[4][3]
  • 1567 – Les sept miracles du monde.[2]
  • 1659 – Crier au miracle, in Corneille.[2]
  • 1690 – C'est un miracle de vous voir, in Furetière.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (religion) A miracle, an extraordinary event attributed to divine intervention: les miracles de Lourdes.[8][1]
  2. An astonishing, unexpected event or success, par miracle, miraculously.[3][2]
  3. A thing worthy of admiration, a marvel.[2][3]
  4. (literature) A medieval miracle play.[8][3]
  5. Crier au miracle: to hail something as wonderful, tenir du miracle, to be little short of miraculous.[2][8]

Word family

  • miraculeux

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 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 l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert