onéreux

Forms

onéreux (feminine onéreuse, masculine plural onéreux, feminine plural onéreuses)^[1] Middle French honereux, honereus, the form used by Oresme.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin onerōsus (“heavy, burdensome”), an adjective of imperial Latin, from onus (“load, burden”).^[5][2][6][7] Rey traces the Latin noun to an Indo-European root noun with relatives in Sanskrit and Greek;^[2] Littré already compared a Sanskrit word for a cart.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found before 1382 in Nicole Oresme, as honereux, meaning burdensome or tiresome: delectation honereuse, ennuyeuse aux bons.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century the word meant heavy or awkward, and figuratively irksome and hard to bear; that sense has since become dated or literary.^[2][5] The sense “costly” seems to have come through law, in à titre onéreux (1611, Cotgrave), said of a thing acquired on condition of a charge or obligation, and inventaire onéreux (1615), an estate with more debts than assets.^[2][5] The Académie recorded the sense “that costs a lot of money” in 1694, and this is the main sense today.^[5][8]

English onerous (late 14th century) comes from the Old French form and directly from Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1382 – Oresme uses honereux, “burdensome”.^[5]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records à titre onéreux.^[5][2]
• 1615 – Inventaire onéreux appears in the customs of Nieuport.^[5]
• 1694 – The Académie records the sense “costly”.^[5][8]
• 1781 – The adverb onéreusement is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Expensive, costly; that involves heavy expenses: un loyer onéreux.^[5][8][1]
2. (dated or literary) Burdensome, troublesome, hard to bear.^[5][8]
3. (law) À titre onéreux: in return for a charge or obligation, as opposed to free of charge.^[8][4]

Word family

• onéreusement

Related words

• Latin onus
• English onerous

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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. ^ 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
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 355b
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com