oiseux

Forms

oiseux (feminine oiseuse, masculine plural oiseux, feminine plural oiseuses)^[1] Old French oiseus; the spelling oiseux is found from about 1210.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French oiseus, inherited from Latin ōtiōsus (“at leisure, idle, useless”), from ōtium (“leisure, rest”).^[4][5][2][6] Rey notes that the Latin noun is of unknown origin and survived only in Old Occitan.^[5] Bloch and Wartburg note that elsewhere in Romance the word is a learned borrowing.^[6]

Cognate with Old Occitan ocios, Spanish ocioso and Italian ozioso.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Chrétien de Troyes's Érec et Énide (1165–1170) as a feminine noun, une oiseuse, a useless thing or idle words.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the noun oiseuse also meant idleness, sloth (late 12th century).^[4][5] As an adjective it described a thing that serves no purpose, as in parole oiseuse in Chrétien's Chevalier au lion (1176–1181), and a person who does nothing (1181–1190); Jean de Meun has vie oiseuse (1269–1278).^[4][5] On oiseus Old French formed the noun oisdive “idleness”, whence the adjective oisif (1271) and oisiveté (about 1330).^[6]

The sense “idle” of a person has weakened, since words such as fainéant, paresseux and above all its derivative oisif took it over; the main modern sense is “pointless, leading nowhere”.^[5][8]

Timeline

• 1165–1170 – Une oiseuse “idle words” in Érec et Énide.^[4]
• Late 12th century – Oiseuse “idleness” in the lay of Graelent.^[4]
• 1176–1181 – Parole oiseuse in the Chevalier au lion.^[4][5]
• 1181–1190 – Used of an idle person in the Conte du graal.^[4]
• 1269–1278 – Vie oiseuse in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose.^[4][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Serving no purpose, leading nowhere, pointless: une question oiseuse, des discussions oiseuses.^[8][4]
2. (dated) Of a person: idle, doing nothing by habit or taste.^[4][2][7]

Related words

• oisiveté
• oisif
• Latin ōtiōsus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert