populisme

Forms

populisme m (plural populismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French populiste + -isme in its literary sense, which spread the word in 1929, by a change of suffix on the model of pairs such as réaliste and réalisme.^[2][3][4] The Dictionnaire historique and the Robert dictionaries describe it as a learned formation on the stem of Latin populus (“people”).^[5][6][7]

The TLF-Étym shows that the form had been coined, or calqued, several times before.^[2] In 1888 the Belgian music critic Henry Maubel made it from peuple on the learned stem ⟨popul-⟩ (as in populaire and population); this use went unnoticed.^[2] From 1894 it rendered populism, the name of the program of the American People's Party (founded 1891), and Paul Crouzet borrowed the English word on purpose in 1897.^[2] From 1897 it also translated Russian народничество (narodničestvo), formed on народ (narod, “people”).^[2][5] The sense for Latin American politics, introduced by the sociologist Jacques Lambert in 1963, is a calque of Spanish populismo or Portuguese populismo.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use, in 1888, is in a music review in the Belgian journal La Société nouvelle, where it means an art that draws on the life of the people.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The early uses were scattered: an art drawn from popular life (1888, 1897), the American Populist movement (from 1894) and the Russian narodnichestvo, the movement of the 1860s to 1880s that sought to rouse the peasantry against tsarist rule (from 1897; the TLFi's first record is a 1912 book on Russia).^[2][3][5]

In 1929 André Thérive and Léon Lemonnier chose populisme as the name of a literary school that would depict the lives of ordinary people realistically, without the social theories or the style of naturalism;^[2][4][5] Thérive had first weighed humilisme and démotisme.^[2][4][5] Lemonnier's manifesto in L'Œuvre (27 August 1929) was widely discussed, and the word was then applied by analogy to painting and cinema.^[2][3]

In politics the word came to mean any movement appealing to the people as a single undivided whole.^[3] The Latin American sense entered French in 1963, and in the 1980s and 1990s journalists applied it to European parties and politicians.^[2] Since the 1970s, and above all since 2000, it has named a political discourse aimed at the working classes that attacks the system and the elites, often pejoratively.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 1888 – Henry Maubel uses it in La Société nouvelle for an art drawing on popular life.^[2]
• 1891 – English populism is first recorded.^[2]
• 1894 – The Revue encyclopédique uses it of the American Populist movement.^[2]
• 1897 – Paul Crouzet takes it from English for a literature serving the people's education.^[2]
• 1897 – A translation from Russian uses it for narodnichestvo.^[2]
• 1912 – Alexinsky's La Russie moderne, the TLFi's first record.^[3]
• 1929 – André Thérive and Léon Lemonnier name their literary school populisme.^[2][4][5]
• 1949 – First recorded in a dictionary, the Nouveau Larousse universel.^[2]
• 1963 – Jacques Lambert introduces the Latin American political sense.^[2]
• 1980s – It becomes a common journalistic term for European political movements.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literature) A literary school that sets out to depict the life of ordinary people realistically in novels; by extension, a similar trend in painting and cinema.^[7][3]
2. (history) The Russian narodnik movement of the second half of the 19th century, which sought to rouse the peasantry against tsarist rule.^[3][2]
3. (history) The American populist movement of the late 19th century, which defended small farmers.^[2]
4. (politics) A political discourse or movement that appeals to the people as a whole against the system and its elites, often used pejoratively.^[7][5][3]

Related words

• populiste
• peuple
• populaire
• Latin populus
• English populism

Usage notes

The literary prize prix du roman populiste was founded by Antonine Coulet-Teissier, and fixed the name of the genre.^[3] Wiktionary gives the pronunciations /pɔ.py.lism/ and /pɔ.py.lizm/.^[1]

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 p q r s t u v w Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert