nationalisme

Forms

nationalisme m (plural nationalismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French national + -isme.^[2][3][1] The GLLF adds that it may have been coined after English nationalism,^[4] and Bloch and Wartburg think the same of nationaliste (1837).^[5] The adjective, recorded in 1534, is a derivative of nation, from Latin nātiō (“birth, descent”), from nātus (“born”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1798 in the Abbé Barruel's memoirs on the history of Jacobinism, for an excessive exaltation of national feeling, with a pejorative tinge.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

At first the word merged with the national consciousness of the Revolution.^[6] In the 19th century it meant the exaltation of national feeling, praised by Lamartine (1834) and condemned by Proudhon (1849).^[2][6] Proudhon also used it, before 1865, for the striving of an oppressed nation for political and economic independence.^[2][6]

After 1870, and especially in the years before 1914, it came to suggest in France patriotic defence and political conservatism, and became a word of the right;^[6] Barrès used it in 1897 and 1902.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1798 – The Abbé Barruel uses it, pejoratively, in his memoirs on Jacobinism.^[2]
• 1830 – Nationaliste is recorded as a noun.^[6]
• 1834 – Lamartine uses it with a favourable value.^[2]
• 1849 – Proudhon attacks ce nationalisme renouvelé des Romains.^[2]
• before 1865 – Proudhon uses it for an oppressed nation's aspiration to independence.^[2][6]
• 1897 – Barrès uses the word in his Cahiers.^[2]
• 1914 – Jaurès uses antinationalisme.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A doctrine or political movement claiming for a people the right to form an independent nation: les nationalismes européens du XIXe siècle.^[7][2]
2. The exaltation of national feeling, a passionate attachment to one's own nation, sometimes with xenophobia; chauvinism.^[7][2]
3. A doctrine that subordinates home policy to the growth of national power and asserts that power abroad without limit;^[7][4] le nationalisme intégral of Charles Maurras.^[7][4]

Word family

• nationaliste
• antinationalisme
• ultranationaliste

Related words

• national
• nation
• nationalité
• nationaliser
• Latin nātiō

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert