plagiaire

Forms

plagiaire m or f (plural plagiaires)^[1] The noun was first written plagiere (1584).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin plagiārius (“one who kidnaps or receives another's slaves”),^[2][5][3][6] a derivative of plagium (“the crime of kidnapping slaves”),^[2][5][3] which is from Ancient Greek πλάγιον (plágion), the neuter of πλάγιος (plágios, “oblique, sideways, crooked”).^[5][7][6][8] The Greek adjective was used of a battle line or fleet drawn up on the flank, and figuratively of a person who uses underhand means.^[5] In Latin the agent noun already had the figurative sense of an author who takes another's work.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fontaine's Les Ruisseaux (1555) speaks of poëtes plagiaires, poets who copy others.^[2][9] The noun is first recorded as plagiere in A. Thevet's Vrais pourtraits (1584), for a person guilty of plagiarism.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word came into French for a writer or artist who passes off another's work as his own,^[5][2] a sense found in Ambroise Paré about 1560.^[10][6] The Latin sense of a stealer of children is recorded at the end of the 16th century,^[2] and as a term of Roman history, for one who stole or sold other people's slaves or sold free people into slavery, it is found in 1734, in Gayot de Pitaval.^[10] It gave plagiat (1735) and plagier (1801).^[3]

Timeline

• 1555 – Fontaine writes of poëtes plagiaires.^[2][9]
• c. 1560 – Ambroise Paré uses it in the literary sense.^[10][11]
• 1584 – The noun plagiere appears in Thevet.^[2][3]
• 1734 – Gayot de Pitaval uses it in the sense of Roman law.^[10]
• 1735 – The derivative plagiat is recorded.^[3]
• 1801 – The verb plagier is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who plagiarizes, copying or passing off the works of other authors as their own; a plagiarist.^[4][2][12]
2. (history) In ancient Rome, a person who stole, hid or sold other people's slaves, or sold free people as slaves.^[2][10]

Adjective

1. Guilty of plagiarism: auteur plagiaire.^[6][10]

Word family

• plagiat
• plagier

Related words

• plage
• Latin plagiārius
• English plagiary

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 12a
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)