religieux

Forms

religieux (feminine religieuse, masculine plural religieux, feminine plural religieuses)^[1] Old French religius (about 1112), religious (about 1190) and religios;^[2][3][4] religieux is a 13th-century remodelling.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin religiōsus (“scrupulous, pious, consecrated”),^[5][2][6][7] derived from religiō.^[2][4] In Christian Latin it already meant “belonging to the Church” (Cyprian, first half of the 3rd century) and “living apart from the world or in a monastery” (Salvian, 5th century), and as a noun “monk” (Gregory the Great, late 6th century).^[5][2][6]

Cognate with Old Occitan religios, Spanish religioso and Italian religioso.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears at the beginning of the 12th century in Benedeit's Voyage de saint Brendan, said of a person who keeps the rules of his faith: Religïus semblout e piu “he seemed devout and pious”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1155 (Wace's li religius chanoine “the canons regular”) it described people who had taken vows in an order.^[5][2] As a noun it meant a monk from 1240, according to the DHLF, or 1265 in the TLFi; the feminine noun for a nun is recorded in 1324.^[2][5] In the 13th century it also qualified the property and places of a religious community.^[5][2] The sense “moved by sincere faith” is from Jean de Meun (about 1265–78), and a 16th-century use for a Protestant, in Brantôme, has disappeared.^[2][3]

The general sense “relating to religion or worship” dates from 1538, after the FEW, and Montaigne writes of ornemens religieux in 1588.^[5] By a literary Latinism it also meant “scrupulously exact” (Amyot, about 1572), a use still normal in La Bruyère's time and now obsolete.^[2][5][9] From 1580 Montaigne applied it to what has the character of religious feeling, as the “so calm and religious harmony” of voices in church.^[5]

By likeness of colour or shape, the feminine religieuse named several birds (1555, after the FEW), a morel (1790) and, from 1904, a pastry.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1112 – Religïus “pious” appears in Benedeit's Voyage de saint Brendan.^[5][3]
• 1155 – Wace writes li religius chanoine “the canons regular”.^[5]
• 1240 – First use as a noun for a monk, according to the DHLF.^[2]
• 1269–1278 – Jean de Meun writes robe religieuse, a habit of a person in religion.^[5]
• 1324 – The feminine noun is used for nuns.^[5]
• 1538 – First recorded in the sense “relating to religion”.^[5]
• c. 1572 – Amyot uses it for a scrupulous person.^[5][2]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it for what inspires recollection.^[5]
• 1790 – Petite religieuse names a morel.^[5]
• 1904 – Religieuse names a pastry.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to religion, to the bond between people and a supernatural power: mariage religieux, as opposed to a civil marriage.^[10][11]
2. Believing in and practising a religion; devout.^[10]
3. Consecrated to God by vows: la vie religieuse, ordres religieux.^[10][11]
4. Having the character of religious feeling or conduct: un silence religieux.^[10]
5. Mante religieuse: the praying mantis.^[10]

Noun

1. A person who has taken vows in a monastic order, a monk or nun.^[10][1]
2. (feminine) A pastry of two choux puffs set one on the other and filled with custard cream.^[10][5]

Related words

• religion
• religiosité
• Latin religiōsus

Usage notes

Littré notes that Latin religiosa “nun” is found in the inscriptions of Gaul only from the beginning of the 6th century; before that a nun was called puella domini.^[8]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c 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 s t 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
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 231b
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert