misère

Forms

misère f (plural misères)^[1] Old French miserie (about 1120), then misere (about 1165).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin miseria (“misfortune, adversity, care, pain”),^{[2][3][4][5][1]} derived from miser (“wretched, unhappy”).^[2][3][6] The Latin noun was often used in the plural with a concrete sense.^[3] The Latin adjective had few Romance outcomes, such as Old French mezre (1050), and these did not survive.^[3]

Littré compares Old Occitan miseria, Spanish miseria and Italian miseria.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as miserie in the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century), meaning “misfortune, disgrace, a wretched state”.^[2][8] The Books of Kings have que veisses ma miserie, “that you might see my misery”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “misfortune, wretched state” (misere, about 1165) lives on in collier de misère “a hard, tiring task or lot” (1690) and in the exclamations misère de moi ! (1849) and misère !.^[3][2] From the early 14th century it meant physical suffering, a sense kept in faire des misères à quelqu'un (1868, Littré); lit de misère (1798) was the bed of a woman in labour.^[3][2]

The idea of want took a moral, religious sense, the weakness and nothingness of man (about 1460, Chastellain), now gone, and a material one, extreme poverty (1611, Cotgrave), as in crier misère (Madame de Sévigné, 1676).^[3][2] By about 1710 it also meant the poor themselves.^[3][2] Une misère, des misères came to mean a petty act (1677) and above all a trifle (before 1719);^[3][2] Rey suggests these overtones may be why Hugo changed the title of his novel from Les Misères to Les Misérables.^[3]

In Quebec, continuing usage of western France and the North, it means hardship or trouble, as in avoir de la misère à “to have difficulty doing”;^[3][9] Belgian French has chercher misère.^[3]

Timeline

• first half of the 12th century – Miserie in the Oxford Psalter.^[2][3]
• c. 1165 – The form misere in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie.^[2]
• early 14th century – Used for physical suffering.^[2][3]
• c. 1460 – Chastellain uses it for the weakness and nothingness of man.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “extreme poverty”.^[2][8]
• 1676 – Madame de Sévigné writes crier misère.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records collier de misère.^[2][8]
• before 1719 – Madame de Maintenon uses it for a trifle.^[2][8]
• 1798 – The Académie records lit de misère.^[2][8]
• 1849 – Flaubert writes misère de moi !.^[2][3]
• 1868 – Littré records faire des misères.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated or literary) A pitiable state; extreme misfortune.^[9][2]
2. Une misère, des misères: a painful, unhappy event; a trouble.^[9]
3. Faire des misères à quelqu'un: to torment or tease someone.^[3][2]
4. Extreme poverty, lack of the necessities of life: être dans la misère, crier misère.^[2][1]
5. Salaire de misère: a pitiful wage.^[8][1]
6. The poor, the people in want.^[2][7]
7. A trifle, a thing of little value or importance.^[2][1]
8. (Quebec) Avoir de la misère à: to have trouble doing something.^[9][3][1]

Interjection

1. Misère !: an exclamation of distress, “woe is me!”, “dear Lord!”.^[9][3][1]

Word family

• miséreux

Related words

• misérable
• Latin miseria

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 q r s t u v w x y 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 m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 169a
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert