omineux

Forms

omineux (feminine omineuse, masculine plural omineux, feminine plural omineuses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ōminōsus (“of evil omen”), from ōmen (“omen, presage”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Littré calls it a Latinism.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1594 in Guillaume du Vair, in the form mal ominieuse said of a thing of bad omen.^[2] The form omineux appears in 1605 in Pierre Le Loyer's history of spectres, where it means “foretelling the future”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the early 17th century the adjective could mean simply “foretelling the future”, as in Le Loyer's voix omineuses;^[6][3] the sense “of evil omen”, which is the Latin one, is dated 1663 by the GLLF.^[3] Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writers used it of omens and presumptions, as in the translation of the history of Charles VI where the wisest firent un jugement omineux of a prodigy.^[6][7][8] In modern French it is a rare literary word meaning heavy with dark forebodings.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1594 – Mal ominieuse “of bad omen” in Guillaume du Vair.^[2]
• 1605 – Omineux “foretelling the future” in Pierre Le Loyer.^[2][6]
• 1663 – First dated use in the sense “of evil omen”.^[3]
• 1873 – Littré records it as a Latinism meaning “baleful, of evil omen”.^[4]
• 1918 – Toulet writes of a mutisme omineux.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary, rare) ominous, of evil omen, heavy with dark forebodings: un ciel omineux.^[2][3][4]
2. (obsolete) Foretelling the future.^[6][2]

Related words

• Latin ōmen

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 352a
6. ^ a b c d e Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
7. ^ La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Jean-Baptiste de (1875–1882), Dictionnaire historique de l'ancien langage françois, ed. L. Favre, 10 vols., Niort: Favre
8. ^ Huguet, Edmond (1925–1967), Dictionnaire de la langue française du seizième siècle, 7 vols., Paris: Champion / Didier