ressentiment

Forms

ressentiment m (plural ressentiments)^[1] Old French recentement (about 1300), Middle French resentement (1544); the present form dates from 1558.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French ressentir + -ment.^[5][1][4] The verb ressentir is made of re- and sentir, from Latin sentiō (“to feel”).^[1] The earliest forms were recentement and resentement, remade after the verb in 1558.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1300, as recentement, in the Bible of Macé de la Charité, meaning the memory of an injury or a wrong.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Rey gives “remembering with rancour” as the first sense, the only one that survives.^[2] From the late 16th to the 17th century the noun followed the verb: it meant a fresh attack of an illness (1574, letters of Charles IX), the fact of feeling something (1580, Montaigne), and, about 1600, ressentiment de douleur.^[5][2] It also meant a feeling returned, grateful remembrance (1612–1613), still found at the end of the 18th century, and in classical French a moral suffering.^[2][5][3] Narrowed to “rancour”, the word now has no link of sense with the verb it comes from.^[2]

English took it in the 1590s as resentiment, and formed resentment in the 1610s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – Recentement appears in Macé de la Charité's Bible.^[5]
• 1544 – The form resentement is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1558 – The form ressentiment is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1574 – First used for a fresh attack of an illness.^[5][2]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it for the fact of feeling.^[5][2]
• 1610s – English resentment appears.^[6]
• 1612–1613 – First used for grateful remembrance.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Resentment: lasting animosity at the memory of a wrong one has suffered.^[7][8]
2. (obsolete) Grateful remembrance, gratitude.^[7][5]
3. (classical) A renewed attack of a pain or illness.^[3][5]
4. (classical) The fact of feeling something, awareness of it.^[3][5]

Related words

• ressentir
• sentir
• pressentiment
• rancœur
• English resentment

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 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 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)