Etymologically
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peuple

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pœpl/[1]

Forms

peuple m (plural peuples)[1] Poblo (842), pople (about 980), pueble, pueple (about 1135); peuple from the 13th–15th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin populus (“people of a state or city; the citizens; people, the public”).[4][2][5][6][7] The Old French “pueble” became “pueple” and “peuple” by assimilation of the inner /b/ to the initial /p/; because the word stayed in contact with Latin, “populus” probably helped to remake it.[5][2] Rey calls “populus” a reduplicated form of unknown root, perhaps borrowed from Etruscan (compare the town name Populonia), and notes that it has nothing to do with “pōpulus” “poplar” (see peuplier).[2][8]

Compare Romanian popor, Occitan poble, Catalan poble and Portuguese povo; Spanish pueblo is a popular form and Italian popolo a learned one.[8][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Strasbourg Oaths (842) speak of christian poblo, the Christian people, the community of those living together under common customs and institutions.[4][2][9]

Semantic evolution

At the end of the 10th century it meant the population of a place, a sense later taken over by population, and, from about 1135 mankind.[4][2] It named the nation as a whole and also the governed part of it, the subjects of a sovereign (mes peuples), a use that lapsed with the Revolution of 1789.[2] A crowd or audience was peuple about 1155; it survives in se moquer du peuple (1793).[2][3]

The grant pueple et li menus of Gautier de Coinci (about 1225) marks the division between great and small, and le menu peuple is in Amyot.[4][9] The adjective peuple “common, vulgar” is in Guez de Balzac (before 1654).[4]

Timeline

  • 842 – Poblo, Strasbourg Oaths.[4]
  • Late 10th century – The population of a place, Passion of Clermont.[4]
  • c. 1135 – Pueple “mankind”, Couronnement de Louis.[4]
  • 12th century – Peupler.[5]
  • c. 1225 – Li grans pueples et li menus, Gautier de Coinci.[4]
  • 1564 – Peuplade.[5]
  • Before 1654 – Adjective “common”, Guez de Balzac.[4]
  • 1679 – Of animals, La Fontaine.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A people, a nation, a community sharing customs and institutions: le peuple français, le droit des peuples à disposer d'eux-mêmes, le peuple élu.[8][10]
  2. Le peuple: the body of citizens of a state: la souveraineté du peuple.[9][8]
  3. Le peuple: the common people, the lower classes: un homme du peuple.[1][8]
  4. (familiar) A crowd, a lot of people: il y a du peuple, se moquer du peuple.[3][2]

Adjective

  1. (invariable) Common, vulgar: ça fait peuple.[10][11]

Word family

  • peupler
  • peuplement
  • peuplade
  • dépeupler
  • repeupler
  • surpeupler
  • populaire
  • populariser
  • popularité
  • population
  • populace
  • Latin populus
  • English people

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 178a
  8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)