mollasse

Forms

mollasse (plural mollasses)^[2] Middle French mollace (Amyot).^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from French mou + -asse, from the old form mol of the adjective and the pejorative suffix.^{[4][5][1][3][6]} The adjective mou is mollis.^[6]

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert also allow a borrowing from the Italian word molaccio, and Picoche gives that as the source;^[1][7][8] the TLFi and Rey find that hypothesis unnecessary.^[4][5] Littré compares the Genevan form mollache.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1551, in Du Parc Champenois's translation of the Philosophie d'amour of Léon l'Hébreu, meaning soft and without consistency.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1559 Amyot uses it of people for a lack of energy and liveliness: in his Lives a man goes about trailing his gown d'une allure mollace.^[4][3][5] The word has kept both senses, too soft or flabby (of things, flesh, fabric) and listless (of people).^[5][3][7]

As a noun for a spineless person it is recorded in the feminine in 1866 (Delvau) and in the masculine in 1869 (Flaubert).^[4][5] Its derivatives are mollassement (1582), mollasserie (1838) and the commoner diminutive mollasson (1880).^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1551 – First record, in the sense “soft, without consistency”.^[4][5]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for a lack of energy.^[4][9]
• 1582 – The adverb mollassement appears.^[5]
• 1838 – Barbey d'Aurevilly uses mollasserie.^[4]
• 1866 – Delvau records it as a feminine noun for a listless person.^[4][10]
• 1869 – Flaubert uses it as a masculine noun.^[4]
• 1880 – The diminutive mollasson is first recorded.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Unpleasantly soft, flabby, lacking firmness: une pâte mollasse.^{[7][11][4][3]}
2. (figurative, familiar) Listless, lacking energy or character, apathetic: Ton cousin est un peu mollasse.^[7][4][11]

Noun

1. (familiar) A spineless, listless person: Sa sœur est une vraie mollasse.^[7][4]

Word family

• mollassement
• mollasserie
• mollasson

Related words

• mou
• mollesse
• mollet
• molasse
• Latin mollis

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a second mollasse (n. f.), a clayey sandstone used for building, now usually spelled molasse; it records pierre molasse from the early 17th century and the noun from the 18th, and explains it either as the adjective used as a noun or as a pejorative form of meulière.^[1][7] The GLLF dates it to 1669 and also derives it from mol.^[9] Rey thinks it is probably the same word, of Franco-Provençal origin and found in French-speaking Switzerland from the 15th century.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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 f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)