raide

Forms

raide (plural raides)^[1] Old French masculine reit, roit, feminine reide, roide.^[2][3][4] Roide was still the usual spelling in the classical period, and raide became general in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[5][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French roide, the feminine of Old French reit, roit, inherited from Latin rigidus (“stiff, hard, severe”).^{[5][2][4][1][6]} The feminine form spread to both genders and drove out the masculine by about the 14th century.^[7][8][2] The Latin adjective comes from rigeō (“to be stiff”).^[4][3] The learned rigide is a doublet.^[1][4]

The Old French sense “impetuous, swift” came from confusion with rade (“swift”), which is from Latin rapidus (“swift”).^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The masculine reit appears about 1140 in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne, meaning “unbending, firm, solid”, and the feminine redde in Wace's Brut (1155).^[2] The Gloses de Raschi, at the end of the 11th century, have the feminine reide.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first described a thing that would not bend, then a person who stood very straight and a body that had lost the suppleness of life (about 1165).^[5][2] With an idea of force and speed it described things moving violently along a straight path (from about 1175), a value kept by the adverb.^[5][2] The same idea of strength gave “steep” of a slope (13th century), “strong, rough” of a drink (end of the 13th century) and, figuratively, “hard to believe or to accept” (1848–1856), then “shocking, risqué”.^[2][5]

Abstract senses came more slowly: a person who refused all compromise (late 12th century), a sense partly taken over by rigide in the 18th century but kept in raide comme la justice (1867), then a lack of grace or spontaneity (1759, Diderot).^[5][2] In familiar French raide meant “drunk” from 1859 and “penniless” from 1880, perhaps by allusion to someone lying motionless or to a drunkard's stiff gait;^[5][2] since the 1980s it has also meant “high on drugs”.^[5] In army slang se faire porter raide (1915) was to report sick.^[2][5]

As an adverb, roit meant “roughly, violently” from about 1245, and Montaigne wrote tomber roide mort in 1580.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – The masculine reit in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[2]
• 1155 – The feminine redde in Wace's Brut.^[2]
• c. 1160 – Roide for both genders in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[3][4]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it of stiffened gold embroidery in Erec.^[2]
• c. 1190 – The spelling raide, in Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[3][4]
• 14th century – The feminine form is used for both genders.^[8][7]
• 1461–1467 – Tenir la bride royde “to hold the bridle taut”.^[2]
• 1580 – Tomber roide mort in Montaigne.^[2]
• 1759 – Diderot uses it of a lack of grace or spontaneity.^[2][5]
• 1848 – La corde raide in Flaubert.^[2]
• 1859 – Slang raide “drunk”.^[2][8]
• 1880 – Raide “penniless”.^[2][5]
• 1915 – Se faire porter raide in soldiers' slang.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. stiff, not easily bent: un carton raide.^[8][10]
2. Cheveux raides: straight hair, as opposed to curly.^[8][10]
3. Stiff, numb, hard to move: avoir les jambes raides.^[8][10]
4. Standing straight and stiff, rigid in bearing: raide comme un piquet.^[10][5]
5. Stretched taut: une corde raide.^[10][2]
6. Être sur la corde raide: to be in a precarious position.^[10]
7. steep: une côte raide.^[10][1]
8. Unbending, stubborn, refusing compromise.^[1][2][5]
9. Lacking grace, ease or spontaneity.^[2][5]
10. (of alcohol) Strong, rough.^[1][2]
11. (familiar) Hard to believe or accept, or shocking.^[2][5]
12. (familiar) penniless, broke.^[8][10][1]
13. (familiar) Drunk, or under the influence of drugs.^[8][10][1]

Adverb

1. Abruptly, violently: raide mort, stone dead.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• raideur
• raidir
• raidillon
• raidement
• déraidir

Related words

• rigide
• Latin rigidus

Usage notes

Roide survives in writing, chiefly as a spelling relic, and in literary use it sometimes carries extra emphasis.^[5] The Grand Robert has a separate slang noun raide (1926), a banknote or a sum of money, earlier (1840) a fake roll of gold coins, formed from the adjective;^[4] Bob gives it as a thousand francs.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 x y z 27 28 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 402a
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 66a
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Bob, dictionnaire d'argot, de français familier et populaire, languefrancaise.net/Bob