ouvrier

Pronunciation

• IPA: /u.vʁi.je/^[1]

Forms

ouvrier m (plural ouvriers, feminine ouvrière)^[1] Old French ovrer, overier, ovrier (12th century); ouvrier from the 13th century, after ouvrage and ouvrer.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ovrier, inherited from Latin operārius (“of work; labourer”), from opera (“work, effort”) (see œuvre).^[5][2][6][1] The very rare opéraire is a learned doublet.^[1]

Cognate with Italian operaio, Old Occitan obrier, Catalan obrer, Spanish obrero and Portuguese obreiro.^[7][8] Littré gives Walloon ovrî.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cambridge Psalter (first half of the 12th century) has it for an agent, a doer: envers les ovrers de felunie “against the workers of iniquity”, translating adversum operarios iniquitatis.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

By 1155 (Wace) it had its modern sense, a person hiring out his services for a wage to do manual work, and also a person who does a job skilfully.^[5][2] Until the 18th century it was more or less a synonym of artisan, sometimes of artiste; with the industrial revolution of the 18th and especially 19th century it came to name the industrial proletariat, as in la classe ouvrière (1808).^[2][5] From the 15th century it could imply practical skill without talent, as in en la fin l'on cognoist l'ouvrier.^[5][2]

Twentieth-century terms include ouvrier d'État (1903) and ouvrier spécialisé (1931), shortened to O. S. (1950), which misleadingly names an unskilled worker.^[2] The adjective is old in jour ouvrier “working day” (early 12th century); ouvrières are worker bees in the Encyclopédie (1751).^[5][2] Slang used it for a thief (1836).^[2]

Timeline

• early 12th century – Jurn uvrer “working day”, in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[5]
• 1st half of the 12th century – Ovrer “doer”, in the Cambridge Psalter.^[5]
• c. 1155 – A wage labourer; a skilled worker, in Wace.^[5]
• 1273 – The form ouvrier, in Adenet.^[4]
• 1751 – Worker bees.^[5]
• 1808 – La classe ouvrière.^[5]
• 1931 – Ouvrier spécialisé.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A worker, labourer, a manual worker paid a wage: ouvrier agricole, ouvrier d'usine, ouvrier qualifié, skilled worker.^[9][1]
2. (literary) A person who does a work, an artisan: à l'œuvre on connaît l'ouvrier.^[4][2]
3. (feminine) Ouvrière: a worker bee or ant.^[5]
4. (Louisiana) A carpenter.^[1]

Adjective

1. Of workers, working-class: la classe ouvrière, le mouvement ouvrier.^[5][1]
2. Jour ouvrier: a working day.^[5]

Related words

• œuvre
• ouvrer
• ouvrage
• opéraire
• Latin operārius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert