peste

Forms

peste f (plural pestes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pestis (“contagious disease, epidemic, plague, ruin”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word has no clear etymology;^[3] Littré cites Corssen's view that it stands for an earlier form derived from perdō (“to destroy, lose”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1460 in the Chronique of Georges Chastellain, for an epidemic disease.^[2][3] The GLLF cites an earlier example from 1425,^[6] and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary has peste “pestilence, fatal epidemic disease” from the late 13th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the word long covered any disease with very high mortality, and it is in this broad sense that history speaks of the plague of Athens and of the Black Death of the 14th century.^[3][8] This general sense is behind its use in veterinary medicine, for a disease of sheep (1732) and in peste bovine (1868).^[3] The modern medical sense, the disease caused by the bacillus that Yersin and Kitasato discovered in 1894, became distinct in the 19th century.^[3]

From the 15th century it was used of a harmful, wicked or very unpleasant person (about 1475, Chastellain),^[2][3] in schoolboy slang of a nasty schoolboy (1583),^[2] jokingly of a mischievous child (1622) and, in the language of gallantry, of the beloved (1662).^[3] As a Latinism it also meant a scourge (about 1500, Jean d'Auton) and a pernicious influence that corrupts minds (1541, Calvin).^[2][3]

Classical French built phrases of comparison, comme peste (Ronsard, 1564) and comme la peste (Scarron, 1650),^[2] curses such as la peste l'estouffe (Larivey, 1579) and la peste soit de (1652),^[2][3] and the exclamation peste! of surprise or admiration (Molière, 1664).^[2] These curses and the exclamation are now dated, but fuir comme la peste is still in common use.^[3]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Anglo-Norman peste “fatal epidemic disease”.^[7]
• c. 1460 – Chastellain uses it for an epidemic disease.^[2]
• c. 1475 – Chastellain uses it for a person who causes trouble.^[2]
• c. 1500 – Jean d'Auton uses it for a scourge.^[2]
• 1564 – Ronsard has comme peste.^[2]
• 1579 – Larivey uses the curse la peste l'estouffe.^[2]
• 1617 – First record of the derivative pester.^[4][3]
• 1664 – Molière uses the exclamation peste!.^[2]
• 1868 – Peste bovine appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) Any epidemic disease with very high mortality.^[8][2]
2. The plague, a very serious infectious and contagious disease caused by Yersin's bacillus.^[8][2]
3. Fuir qqn comme la peste: to avoid someone as much as possible.^[8][3]
4. Peste bovine, peste porcine: infectious diseases of cattle, of pigs.^[8]
5. (figurative) A harmful or pernicious person or thing.^[8][2]
6. (familiar) An unbearable, mischievous woman or girl, a brat.^[8][1]

Interjection

1. (dated) An exclamation of surprise or admiration.^[8][1][3]

Word family

• pester
• malepeste
• pesteux

Related words

• Latin pestis

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert