niais

Forms

niais (feminine niaise, masculine plural niais, feminine plural niaises)^[1] Old French nïés, niés, Anglo-Norman also nieys and nyés.^[2][3][4] Middle French nyais in the 14th century.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French niés, inherited from Vulgar Latin *nīdāx (“taken from the nest”), a derivative of Latin nīdus (“nest”) (nid).^{[2][3][6][7][8][1]} It was properly said of a falcon taken from the nest, and the sense “foolish” comes from that one.^[2][6]

Bloch and Wartburg compare Italian nidiace, remade on nidio (“nest”), and Old Occitan nizaic, with another suffix;^[6][5] Meyer-Lübke instead takes the Occitan word from French.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in falconry, in espervier nïés “a sparrowhawk still in the nest”, in the romance Yder (1210–1225).^[2][3] In the 13th century Brunetto Latini explains that a niais bird is one taken from the nest and reared at home from its youth.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first described a young hawk leaving the nest, and after 1250 it was also used as a noun.^[3] By image it was applied to an inexperienced, overly naive person, and then took the modern sense “silly” (13th century as an adjective, 1275 as a noun).^[3][2] The Grand Larousse dates the figurative sense to Chrétien de Troyes about 1175, but the TLFi takes it from a 13th-century manuscript of his Chevalier au lion.^[10][2] By metonymy it was used from about 1640 of a look that suggests foolishness.^[3] In the theatre, niais was the stock simpleton character.^[11]

The derivatives are niaiserie (1542), niaiser (1549) and niaisement (1585).^[3] The verb has gone out of use except in Quebec, where niaiseux “stupid, naive” is common.^[3]

Timeline

• 1210–1225 – Espervier nïés appears in Yder.^[2]
• 2nd half of the 13th century – As a noun, the young falcon is used as an image of a naive person.^[2]
• 13th century – The sense “foolish from inexperience” appears in a manuscript of Chrétien's Chevalier au lion.^[2]
• 1275 – First used as a noun for a fool.^[3]
• 14th century – The Livre du roi Modus calls falcons taken from the nest nyais.^[5]
• 1542 – Niaiserie is first recorded, as nyeserie.^[3]
• 1549 – Niaiser is first recorded.^[3]
• c. 1640 – Used of a look or air suggesting foolishness.^[3]
• 1837 – Vigny uses it for the comic simpleton of the theatre.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (falconry, obsolete) Of a bird of prey: not yet out of the nest, unable to fly.^[12][2][5] Faucon niais.^[12][2][5]
2. naive and inexperienced to the point of silliness, foolish.^[12][2]
3. Showing foolishness: un sourire niais.^[12][5]

Noun

1. A simpleton, a fool.^[12][5] Faire le niais: to pretend to be simple.^[12][5]
2. (theatre) The comic character of the simpleton.^[11]

Word family

• déniaiser
• niaiser
• niaiseux
• niaiserie

Related words

• nid
• nicher
• Latin nīdus

Usage notes

Littré records niais de Sologne for someone who plays the simpleton but is never mistaken to his own cost.^[5] In Quebec niaiseux is used for a stupid or naive person and also for silly or absurd things.^[3]

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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 113a
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
12. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert