nègre

Forms

nègre m (plural nègres, feminine négresse)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish negro (“Black person”), a specialized use of the Spanish adjective meaning “black” (about 1140), from Latin niger (“black”).^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert allow borrowed from Portuguese negro as well.^[5][6][7][1] The sense “dark brown” (1611) may have been taken straight from the Spanish adjective.^[3] The word is a doublet of noir, the inherited outcome of the Latin word.^[1][8]

The TLFi's first record is from 1529;^[2] Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert date it to 1516 and call it rare before the 18th century.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's earliest example, in 1529 in Parmentier's account of a voyage to Sumatra, uses it for a Black person.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century it took the particular sense of an enslaved Black person (1704), with the phrases traiter comme un nègre (1740–55, Saint-Simon) and travailler comme un nègre (1812), the latter still in use.^[3][2] As an adjective “belonging to Black people” it is found from 1759, in race nègre (1814), now replaced by race noire, and in the 20th century in art nègre (1922, Proust).^[3][2]

The figurative sense “person who writes a text that another signs”, an allusion to slavery, is recorded in 1757;^[3][2] it is now considered racist, and the English image of the ghostwriter is offered in its place.^[3] The colour sense “dark brown” (1611, Cotgrave) gave the compound tête de nègre (1822).^[2][3] In the 19th century parler nègre (1857) and petit nègre (1877) meant “bad French”, after the simplified French of the colonial army and administration; the phrase is no longer used.^[3][2] The cooking name nègre en chemise (1932) is a chocolate dessert covered in whipped cream.^[3][2]

The DHLF notes that the word is often avoided for its pejorative and racist value, except when Black people use it themselves, especially since the cultural movements of decolonization in the mid-20th century, as in négritude.^[3] English took the word as nigger (1786, earlier neger), which Etymonline traces through French nègre to Spanish.^[9]

Timeline

• 1516 – First date given by Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert.^[5][6]
• 1529 – Parmentier uses it of a Black person.^[2][4]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records neigre “dark brown”.^[2][10]
• 1637 – The feminine négresse is recorded.^[5][3]
• 1704 – The Trévoux dictionary records the sense “enslaved Black person”.^[2][3]
• 1757 – Collé uses it of a ghostwriter.^[2][3]
• 1759 – Voltaire's Candide uses it as an adjective.^[2][3]
• 1812 – Travailler comme un nègre appears in Courier.^[2][3]
• 1822 – Tête de nègre names a dark brown colour.^[2][3]
• 1877 – Petit nègre “bad French” in Le Charivari.^[2][3]
• 1922 – Proust writes of art nègre.^[2][3]
• 1932 – Nègre en chemise appears in a cookbook.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, now offensive) A Black person.^[7][2][1]
2. (historical) A Black person held as a slave in the former colonies: la traite des nègres, and the phrase travailler comme un nègre means to work very hard without rest.^[7][2][3]
3. (now often considered offensive) A ghostwriter, who drafts or writes works signed by someone else.^[7][2][1]
4. (dated) A dark brown colour; also as an adjective.^[7][2]
5. (cooking) nègre en chemise: a chocolate dessert coated with whipped cream.^[7][3]
6. (dated, offensive) petit-nègre: a simplified French formerly spoken in the French colonies; by extension, poor French.^[7][3]
7. (Louisiana) A Black person, usually without offence there; informally also a friend or pal of any background.^[1]

Adjective

1. (dated or offensive) Of or belonging to Black people.^[7][2]
2. Of African art and culture: art nègre, masque nègre.^[7][2]

Word family

• négritude
• négresse
• négrier
• négrillon

Related words

• noir
• Spanish negro
• Latin niger

Usage notes

The DHLF and the Petit Robert describe the noun as old-fashioned or pejorative, and the GLLF notes that noir is used instead to avoid that nuance.^[3][7][4] The Robert records a feminine une nègre in 1643 beside négresse.^[6][7] Bloch and Wartburg note that Spanish negro was taken again in its own form in the 19th century as a familiar word.^[5]

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