Etymologically
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policier

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Pronunciation

  • /pɔ.li.sje/[1]

Forms

policier (feminine policière, masculine plural policiers, feminine plural policières)[1]

Etymology

It is from French police + -ier.[2][3][4][5] That noun was borrowed in the 14th century from Late Latin politia (“organisation of a state, administration”), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “citizenship; government”), itself from πόλις (pólis, “city”).[4] The adjective first followed the noun's old sense “government of a city”; the modern word was formed again after its later sense “force keeping public order”.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cotgrave records it in 1611, in an isolated use, meaning “concerning the administration or government of a town or territory”.[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

As a noun for a member of the police it appears in 1753 in Fougeret de Monbron's Le Cosmopolite, and was long a familiar and disparaging term, as Littré notes.[2][6][7] The adjective took the sense “concerning the police” in 1836 and “belonging to the police” in 1898.[2][6][4]

Roman policier (1908, Gaston Leroux), which followed English detective novel, established itself only after other names such as roman judiciaire; elliptically, un policier is a detective novel (1949), clipped in slang to polar (1970).[2][6] Chien policier dates from 1911, and État policier and régime policier describe a state that relies on its police.[2][8]

Timeline

  • 1611 – Cotgrave records the adjective in the old sense of police.[2]
  • 1753 – The noun “member of the police”, in Fougeret de Monbron.[2]
  • 1836 – “Concerning the police”.[2][4]
  • 1898 – “Belonging to the police”, in Jean Lorrain.[2]
  • 1908 – Roman policier, in Gaston Leroux.[2]
  • 1911 – Chien policier.[2]
  • 1949 – Un policier “a detective novel”, in Marcel Aymé.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Relating to or belonging to the police: une enquête policière, une bavure policière, chien policier, a police dog, État policier, a police state.[8][2]
  2. Of fiction or films about a crime and its investigation: roman policier, film policier.[8][2]

Noun

  1. A police officer; the feminine is policière, or policier for a woman.[8][1]
  2. A detective novel or film.[8][1]

Word family

  • polar

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 130b
  6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert