nouveauté

Forms

nouveauté f (plural nouveautés)^[1] Old French novelté (about 1160), noveliteit (about 1190), noveleté and novelité.^[2][3] The spelling nouveauté is found from 1280; the old form survived as nouvelleté, still used by some writers.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French nouveau + -té, Old French novel.^[4][1][5] Bloch and Wartburg explain the Old French forms noveleté and novelité by the influence of Late Latin novellitās,^[3] and Littré derives the word from that Latin noun, built on novellus (“new, young”).^[6] The Latin adjective itself comes from novus (“new”).^[3]

The form nouvelleté carried a legal sense, a dispossession of an heir (1283), probably through Medieval Latin novalitās, a Latin rendering of the Old French word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Novelté is first found about 1160 in the Roman d'Eneas, meaning a new situation.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

In 1280 the Clef d'amours uses it both for the quality of being new and for an innovation or change.^[4] Rey points out that until the 18th century the word was mostly critical: it meant political, religious or social upheavals (1558), and even riots and revolutions, from 1289 to 1628.^[2][8] Its positive value came late, with Stendhal (1830), at the same time as the idea of modernity.^[2][8]

Concretely, une nouveauté was a new thing: in the Quinze joies de mariage (late 14th or early 15th century) a wife wants new clothes and belts in the latest fashion.^[4][6] From 1668 it named a newly published or staged work.^[4][2] From the 19th century it also meant a newly fashionable article in the clothing trade, hence magasin de nouveautés (1823).^[3][8]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Novelté “new situation” in the Roman d'Eneas.^[4]
• 1280 – Nouveauté in the Clef d'amours, for newness and for a change.^[4]
• 1283 – Nouvelleté is used in law.^[2]
• Late 14th or early 15th century – Nouveautés for new things in the Quinze joies de mariage.^[4]
• 1558 – Ronsard uses it of upheavals.^[8][2]
• 1639 – Corneille writes of la grâce de la nouveauté, the new in general.^[4]
• 1668 – Molière uses it for a new kind of work.^[4]
• 1823 – Magasin de nouveautés is recorded.^[3]
• 1830 – Stendhal gives it a positive sense.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being new or recent; newness, novelty.^[7][9]
2. The quality of something not seen or known before; originality.^[7][9]
3. (uncountable) What is new: aimer la nouveauté.^[7][10]
4. A new thing; an innovation, also something unusual or unexpected: c'est une nouveauté.^[7][9][10]
5. A new product or work just released, such as a book, record or garment.^[10][9]
6. (dated) Nouveautés: fashionable fabrics and clothing articles, as sold in a magasin de nouveautés.^[8][6]

Related words

• nouveau
• nouvelleté
• neuf²
• Latin novellus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)