pire

Pronunciation

• IPA: /piʁ/^[1]

Forms

pire (plural pires)^[1] Old French nominative pire, oblique peior, pejur, pieur; the oblique form died out in the 15th century, and, unusually, the nominative survived.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pire, inherited from Latin peior (“worse”), the comparative of malus (“bad”).^{[2][5][3][6][1][7]} “Pire” continues the Latin nominative “pejor”, stressed on the first syllable; the accusative “pejōrem” gave “peior”, “pieur”.^[4][2] Rey reports a proposed base “*ped-yos-” “falling”, with Sanskrit पद्यते (pádyate, “he falls”), Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *ped-yōs (“downward”).^[5][1] The neuter peius gave pis.^[3][8]

Cognate with Italian peggiore, Spanish peor and Portuguese pior.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon (1119) uses it as the superlative of mauvais: la pire rüelete “the worst little street”; the Chanson de Roland has des mielz et des pejurs “of the best and the worst”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As a comparative, “worse”, it is found in Wace (1155), and as a noun, le pire, “the worst”, about 1165.^[2][5] From these come pour le meilleur et pour le pire and la politique du pire.^[5] The rivalry between pire and pis survives in adverbial uses of pire that purists criticise: faire pire (1643), rien de pire (1679), c'est pire (1788).^[5] In Canadian French pire can mean simply “bad”: c'est pas pire “not bad”.^[5][9] The verb empirer is a 13th-century remaking, after pire, of Old French empeirier.^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Pejurs, Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• 1119 – Superlative la pire, Philippe de Thaon.^[2]
• 1155 – Comparative “worse”, Wace.^[2]
• c. 1165 – The noun le pire.^[2]
• 15th century – The form pieur disappears.^[2]
• 1643 – Faire pire.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. worse: le remède est pire que le mal, de pire en pire.^[9][1]
2. Le pire, la pire: the worst: le pire ennemi, de la pire espèce.^[1][10]
3. (Canada, familiar) Pas pire: not bad.^[5][1]

Noun

1. Le pire: the worst: s'attendre au pire, au pire, at worst, pour le meilleur et pour le pire.^[10][5]

Word family

• empirer

Related words

• pis
• péjoratif
• pessimiste
• mauvais
• meilleur

Usage notes

Pire is the comparative of the adjective mauvais and may replace plus mauvais, pis is the comparative of the adverb mal.^[10][9] Il n'est pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre is a common proverb.^[9][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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. ^ 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. 8, 153b
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)