pauvreté

Forms

pauvreté f (plural pauvretés)^[1] Old French poverte, poverté and povreté;^[2][3] pauvreté is found in Froissart (about 1360).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French poverté, inherited from Latin paupertās (“poverty, need”), from pauper (“poor”).^[2][4][3] The form with ⟨-ver-⟩ is the regular outcome of the Latin accusative paupertātem; it became povreté under the influence of pauvre, and the spelling with ⟨au⟩ won in the 16th century as the adjective's did.^[2][1] Old French also had the spelling ⟨poverte⟩, stressed on the second syllable, which Meyer-Lübke explained by the model of poeste “power” beside a regular form with stress on the last syllable.^[2][5]

Cognate with Italian povertà and Old Occitan paubretat.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Poverte appears about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis, and povertez about 1140 in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, for a state of destitution.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the lack of material goods, Old French used the word for a great misfortune (about 1225) and, in the Roman de la Rose, for the barrenness of the land in winter.^[2][5] In 1548 Sebillet spoke of the poverty of a language.^[2] Since Molière (1672) une pauvreté has been a trite or worthless remark or act.^[2][3]

In religion pauvreté évangélique and vœu de pauvreté are recorded by Furetière in 1690.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Poverte appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[3][2]
• c. 1140 – Gaimar writes povertez.^[2]
• 1155 – Wace writes povreté.^[2][6]
• c. 1225 – Une grant povretés means “a great misfortune” in Huon de Bordeaux.^[2]
• c. 1360 – Froissart writes pauvreté.^[3]
• 1548 – Sebillet uses it for the poverty of a language.^[2]
• 1672 – Molière uses une pauvreté for a trite remark.^[2][3]
• 1690 – Furetière records vœu de pauvreté.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. poverty, lack of money and material means.^[7][2]
2. (religion) Voluntary renunciation of worldly goods: faire vœu de pauvreté.^[7][5]
3. Poor or wretched appearance: la pauvreté d'une chambre.^[7]
4. (figurative) Insufficiency, meagreness: la pauvreté du sol.^[7][2]
5. (dated) A banality, a trite remark.^[7][2]

Related words

• pauvre
• paupérisme
• Latin paupertās

Usage notes

The proverb pauvreté n'est pas vice is quoted by the Petit Robert.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 h i j Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 60a
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert