Etymologically
Log in

paysan

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɛ.i.zɑ̃/[1]
  • IPA: /pe.i.zɑ̃/[1]

Forms

paysan m (plural paysans, feminine paysanne)[1] Old French païsant (about 1140), païsan (about 1175); païsan in the Académie dictionary of 1694, paysan from 1617 (Crespin) and in the Académie from 1718.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is an alteration of an earlier reconstructed *païsenc, derived with the suffix -enc (Germanic -ing) from Medieval Latin pagensis at the time when that word had come to mean “country” (see pays).[2][5] The change of suffix to -ant may be due to the nominative païsens becoming païsanz, after the common type granz, grant.[2][5] When final -z was reduced to -s in the 13th century, païsans could be taken as the nominative of both païsant and païsan, whence the latter form, later written with ⟨y⟩ after the noun for “country”, and the feminine paysanne.[2][5]

The GLLF and the Petit Robert simply derive it from the noun, “man of a country”.[3][6] Guiraud proposed a Romance derivative *pagensanus.[4] In the south the word comes directly from the Latin, as Old Occitan pagés (1150).[2][5] Wiktionary relates it to païen.[1] Compare Spanish paisano and Italian paesano.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis (about 1140) uses païsant for a person who lives in the country and works the land;[2][5] Wace has la sont li bon villain et li bon païssant.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century it took the pejorative sense “simpleton, boor”, as noun and adjective (before 1250, Jean de Meun, 1269–1278).[2][5] Furetière notes that it was often said of a coarse, uncivil, unclean man, even of some country nobles and of pedants.[5] After La Fontaine's fable, un paysan du Danube is a blunt man of rough good sense.[5][3][6]

It also had the etymological sense “inhabitant of a country, native” (1155), as in nobles païsans (before 1188) and li païsant et li lontain “the natives and the foreigners” (about 1280).[2][5] The feminine païsanne is in Richelet (1680).[2] Its derivatives include paysannerie and paysannat.[1][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – Païsant “countryman”, in Gaimar.[2]
  • 1155 – “Native of a country”, in Wace.[2]
  • c. 1175 – Païsan, in Chrétien de Troyes.[3]
  • 1st half of the 13th century – “Simpleton”.[2]
  • 1617 – The spelling paysan, in Crespin.[3][4]
  • 1680 – Païsanne, in Richelet.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A peasant, a countryman who works the land, a farmer.[6][1]
  2. (derogatory) A country bumpkin, boor.[1][2]
  3. Un paysan du Danube: a blunt, rough-spoken man of good sense.[6][3]

Adjective

  1. Of peasants, rural: la vie paysanne, le monde paysan.[2][6]

Word family

  • paysannat
  • paysannerie
  • pays
  • païen
  • Medieval Latin pagensis

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 l m n o p q 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette