obscénité

Forms

obscénité f (plural obscénités)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin obscēnitās (“indecency, an obscene thing”), first recorded in 1511.^[2][3][4] The Latin noun is derived from obscēnus (“indecent”), the source of obscène.^[4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in a 1511 edition of the Vies des saints Pères, uses it in the plural sense of obscene words, images or actions.^[2][3] The GLLF dates the same text to 1512.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word came into French in its concrete sense, mostly in the plural, for indecent words and pictures; the singular for the quality of what offends modesty followed in 1663, in Molière's Critique de l'École des femmes.^[2][3][5] Littré took Molière's passage to show that the word was then still felt as new.^[6]

In modern French the singular names the character of what is obscene and the plural, much the more common, the obscene words, images or acts themselves.^[3][7][8]

Timeline

• 1511 – First recorded, in the Vies des saints Pères, for obscene words, images and actions.^[2][3]
• 1663 – Molière uses it for the quality of being obscene, in the Critique de l'École des femmes.^[2][5]
• 1873 – Littré gives both senses and notes that it was a neologism in Molière's day.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Obscenity, indecency: the character of what openly offends sexual modesty.^[2][7][8]
2. (usually plural) An obscene word, picture, act or object: Il a crié des obscénités dans la rue.^[2][7][9]

Related words

• obscène
• Latin obscēnus

Usage notes

Littré considered the word a neologism in 1663, judging from the way Molière brings it into the Critique de l'École des femmes.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)