respectabilité

Forms

respectabilité f (plural respectabilités)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English respectability, derived from respectable, which English had borrowed from French respectable in the 17th century.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The word was long felt as an anglicism, until it was accepted as a French derivative; the Grand Robert describes it as formed after that adjective, and Wiktionary analyses it as from French respectable + -ité.^[3][7][1] Picoche places the French adjective in the family of Latin respectus (“regard, consideration”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found on 27 February 1784 in the Courrier de l'Europe, in a report on the House of Commons, where the writer explains that he did not dare to use respectabilité, the word William Pitt had used.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare until the middle of the 19th century.^[3][6] Balzac in 1842 still wrote the English form respectability for the stiff gravity of an English peer, and the word long evoked an English notion;^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg date its establishment to Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862) and note that it was felt as an anglicism even when it was not used of English things.^[2][3][4] The Grand Robert also names Musset among its early users.^[7] Littré still marks it as a néologisme.^[5]

Beside its neutral sense, the quality of a respectable person, it is often used with a pejorative tinge for a merely outward show of honorabilité.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1784 – First record, in a report of a speech by Pitt.^[2][3]
• 1842 – Balzac uses the English form respectability.^[2][3]
• 1845 – Recorded in Bescherelle's dictionary.^[6]
• 1862 – Used by Victor Hugo in Les Misérables.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Respectability: the quality of a person or thing that deserves respect: la respectabilité d'un vieux médecin de campagne.^[9][2][5][1]
2. (often pejorative) An outward appearance of honourability.^[9][2]

Related words

• respect
• respectable
• respecter
• English respectability

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert