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plainte

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Etymology and origin of the French word plainte

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1100 Rashi's glosses, as plonte More words from the 11th century
Ultimate origin
Latin plangō

Pronunciation

Forms

plainte f (plural plaintes)[1] Old French plonte (late 11th century, in Judaeo-French), pleinte, and a masculine plaint, used until the 16th century.[2][1][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include pleynte, playnte and plente.[4]

Etymology

It is from Old French plaindre (“to lament, to complain”): the verb's feminine past participle used as a noun.[5][2][1][6] The earliest form plonte was remade after the verb.[2][7] Wiktionary compares Medieval Latin plancta, from Latin planctus (“a beating of the breast, lament”).[1] The verb is plangō (“to beat (the breast), to lament”).[6][8]

The Old French masculine plaint corresponds to Old Occitan planch, Catalan plant, Spanish planto, Portuguese pranto and Italian pianto, all from the Latin noun.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as plonte at the end of the 11th century in Rashi's glosses, meaning an expression of pain.[5][7] The legal sense appears early as well: the Laws of William the Conqueror (about 1150) forbid anyone to make a pleinte to the king, in the sense of a statement of grievance.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered both the expression of pain and that of discontent.[2] In court a plainte was the setting out of one's grievances (Wace, 1160–1174), and Chrétien de Troyes has faire plainte (1176); porter plainte (1743) later displaced faire plainte and aller à la plainte (1475).[5][2][7]

The sense of pain gave the lover's complaint, chiefly in poetry from the 13th century and now archaic, and the written expression of grief (1538); Nicot records plainte as a lament in 1606, and the Trévoux dictionary as a literary genre in 1743.[2][5][3] By analogy it has been used of things since about 1550, such as a sound that suggests a moan.[2][7] Molière has faire ses plaintes à quelqu'un in 1668.[5][7]

Timeline

  • late 11th century – Plonte in Rashi's glosses.[5][7]
  • c. 1150 – The Laws of William the Conqueror use it of a complaint.[5]
  • 1160–1174 – Wace uses it of a grievance laid before a court.[5]
  • 1176 – Faire plainte in Chrétien de Troyes's Cligès.[5]
  • 1475 – Aller à la plainte is recorded.[2]
  • c. 1550 – First used of inanimate things.[2]
  • 1668 – Molière writes faire ses plaintes à quelqu'un.[5]
  • 1743 – Porter plainte is recorded, and the Trévoux dictionary treats the plainte as a literary genre.[2][5][7]
  • 1893 – Retirer sa plainte is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A moan or groan, a cry or words expressing pain or grief: les plaintes des malades.[9][10][11]
  2. (literary) A long, sad sound that suggests a moan: la plainte d'une sirène.[10][11]
  3. An expression of discontent, a complaint or grievance.[9][10]
  4. (law) A complaint laid before the authorities by the victim of an offence: porter plainte contre quelqu'un, retirer sa plainte.[10][7][1]
  5. (dated) A poem lamenting a death or misfortune, a kind of elegy.[3][5]

Word family

  • plaintif

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 17a
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Plainte.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/plainte. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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