rapace

Forms

rapace (plural rapaces)^[1] Old French plural rapiaus, rapax, with a singular rapal; the form rapace is from about 1460.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rapāx (“grasping, plundering, rapacious”), from rapiō (“to carry off by force”).^[2][3][4][1] The first form, the plural rapiaus or rapax, goes with a singular rapal with a change of suffix: the Latin spelling ⟨-ax⟩ was taken for the Old French plural ending ⟨-aus⟩, often written ⟨-ax⟩.^[2][3][4] It was remade in its present form about 1460.^[3][4][5]

Cognate with Old Occitan rapatz, Spanish rapaz and Italian rapace.^[6] The Latin verb also gave ravir, rapt and rapide.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the plural rapiaus in the Roman de Renart (about 1190), rhyming with maus: a priest who should be a shepherd of souls is called li plus rapiax.^[2][6] About 1310 Aimé du Mont-Cassin speaks of a loup rapace, in the sense “eager to seize the goods of others”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was first said of people greedy for gain and ready to enrich themselves at others' expense (Georges Chastellain, 1455).^[2][3] By analogy, without a pejorative value, it was applied to animals, especially birds of prey (before 1502).^[3][7]

As a noun it named an order of carnivorous birds in Valmont de Bomare (1768).^[2][8] From 1845 it also named a greedy person.^[7][3] Littré also records a metallurgical sense for substances that, burning away in the fire, carry others off with them.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1190 – The plural rapiaus appears in the Roman de Renart.^[2]
• c. 1310 – Loup rapace in Aimé du Mont-Cassin's Histoire des Normands.^[2]
• 1455 – Georges Chastellain uses it for greed for gain.^[2]
• c. 1460 – The form rapace replaces rapal.^[3][4]
• before 1502 – Applied to birds of prey by Octavien de Saint-Gelais.^[7][3]
• 1768 – Rapaces names an order of birds, in Valmont de Bomare.^[2]
• 1845 – Used as a noun for a greedy person.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a bird: voracious, eager in pursuit of its prey.^[8][2][9]
2. Greedy for money, seeking to grow rich quickly at others' expense; rapacious: un propriétaire rapace.^[8][2][9]

Noun

1. A bird of prey, with hooked beak and strong talons: les rapaces nocturnes, such as owls.^[8][10][6]
2. A rapacious, grasping person.^[8][7]

Related words

• rapacité
• ravir
• rapt
• rapine
• Latin rapāx

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 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)