ordure

Forms

ordure f (plural ordures)^[1] Old French also ordeure.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French ord (“filthy, foul”) + -ure,^[3][4][1][5] the Old French adjective (early 12th century) being from Latin horridus (“bristling, frightening, horrible”),^[3][6] from horreō (“to bristle”), the source of horreur.^[4][7] The adjective was said of things and of people, literally and figuratively, much like put, pute; it was still used, as an archaism, in the 17th century, and then gave way to sale and its synonyms.^[4][6]

The same Latin word gave Italian ordo (“dirty”) and Old Occitan orre, still used in southern dialects.^[6] Compare Italian ordura and Old Occitan ordura.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134), for matter that defiles, said of venom: E venin et ordure “both venom and filth”; the same text already uses it for moral defilement.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides any defiling matter, the word meant excrement (1316); since Middle French it has mostly been used in the plural for refuse and rubbish (1327), as in Madame de Sévigné's sac aux ordures (1680).^[3][4] Older and classical French also used it for dust and small specks clinging to furniture and clothes (1209).^[3][4] Furetière's article shows how closely the classical language linked it with the inside of the body, beside pus and corruption.^[4]

The moral sense “defilement”, present from the start, is now literary.^[4][7] By metonymy it came to mean an indecent act or remark (early 15th century) and a contemptible person, first a woman of ill repute (1408), then an insult, recorded by the Goncourts in 1865.^[3][4] Ordures ménagères “household refuse” is from 1932.^[8]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – First recorded in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire.^[3]
• 1209 – Used for dust and small debris.^[3]
• 1316 – Used for excrement.^[3]
• 1327 – Used for refuse.^[3]
• 1408 – Used of a woman of ill repute.^[3][8]
• Early 15th century – Used for an indecent act.^[3][4]
• 16th century – The adjective ord goes out of use.^[6]
• 1680 – Madame de Sévigné writes sac aux ordures.^[3]
• 1718 – The derivative ordurier is recorded.^[6]
• 1865 – The Goncourts record it as an insult.^[3]
• 1932 – Ordures ménagères is recorded by Larousse.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. filth, any matter that soils and disgusts, especially excrement.^[7][9]
2. (plural) refuse, rubbish: ordures ménagères “household refuse”.^[7][8]
3. (literary) Moral defilement, abjection.^[7][9]
4. A coarse or obscene act or remark.^[9][3]
5. (insulting) A vile, contemptible person.^[9][3]

Word family

• ordurier

Related words

• horreur
• Latin horridus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 486b
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
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 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)