platitude

Forms

platitude f (countable and uncountable, plural platitudes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French plat + -itude.^[2][1][3] The adjective goes back to a popular Latin *plattus, taken from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “flat, broad”).^[4] Rey notes that the noun was only formed in the 17th century, and first with a figurative sense.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Académie first records it in 1694 for the flat, uninspired character of a speech, a style or a work of the mind.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Following the figurative senses of plat, the noun came to mean the lack of originality or surprise in things (1804), intellectual mediocrity (1815) and, of a person, an excessive humility or lack of dignity (1817).^[2][5] A trite remark is une platitude from 1740.^[6]

The concrete sense came late: in the 18th century a flat snuffbox was called a platitude (1776), a use now gone,^[2][5][6] and only from 1851 did the word name the flatness of a thing, above all of a terrain or landscape, sometimes a flat landscape itself.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1694 – The Académie records it for flat, uninspired speech or writing.^[2]
• 1740 – A banal remark is called une platitude.^[6]
• 1776 – It names a flat snuffbox.^[2][5]
• 1804 – Benjamin Constant uses it for the dull uniformity of everyday life.^[2]
• 1817 – Madame de Staël uses it of a person's excessive humility.^[2]
• 1851 – Lamartine uses it for the flatness of a landscape.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Banality, lack of originality or of interest: la platitude de ce roman.^[7][2]
2. A trite, commonplace remark, a platitude: il n'a dit que des platitudes.^[7][6]
3. (dated) servility, lack of moral dignity, and an act showing it.^[7][6]
4. The flatness of a thing without relief, especially of a terrain or landscape.^[2][6]

Related words

• aplatir
• plateau
• méplat

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert