pédantesque

Forms

pédantesque (plural pédantesques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian pedantesco, which is derived from pedante (“pedant”) (the source of pédant).^[2][3][4][5] The Italian word first meant “magisterial” (before 1566, Grazzini) and became pejorative later (1588, Salviati).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1552, when Pasquier writes of a sçavoir pedantesque, a bookish, pedant's learning.^[2] The Grand Larousse and the Grand Robert first find it, in 1558–1559, in the neutral sense “magisterial”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Montaigne used it about 1580–1590 of speech or writing that is affected and pedantic: he wrote that the search for new phrases and little-known words comes from a puerile et pedantesque ambition.^[2][5][4] Like most words of the family of pédant, it dates from the late 16th or early 17th century, and it is felt as literary, as is its derivative pédantesquement (1606).^[3][2]

Littré records formation pédantesque for French words made or remade on Latin by scholars, an art term for stiff, dry forms, and the noun le pédantesque for what smells of pedantry;^[5] the BHVF finds this noun in Gautier in 1844.^[7]

Timeline

• 1552 – Pasquier writes sçavoir pedantesque.^[2]
• 1558 – Recorded in the sense “magisterial”.^[6]
• c. 1580–1590 – Montaigne uses it of affected, pedantic speech.^[2][4][8]
• 1606 – The adverb pédantesquement appears, in Charron.^[2][3]
• 1844 – Gautier uses le pédantesque as a noun.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) pedantic: typical of a pédant, or said or written in a pedant's affected way: un ton pédantesque.^{[8][2][9][10]}

Noun

1. Le pédantesque: what smells of pedantry, a display of learning.^[5][2][7]

Word family

• pédantesquement

Related words

• pédant
• pédanterie
• pédantisme
• Italian pedantesco

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)