rigueur

Forms

rigueur f (plural rigueurs)^[1] Old French rigor (late 12th century); the form in ⟨-eur⟩ from about 1283.^[2][3] Littré quotes the 14th-century spelling rigour.^[4] A la righeur is found in 1501.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rigor (“stiffness, hardness, severity”),^[5][6][1][7] first as rigor, then with the suffix changed to ⟨-eur⟩ from about 1283.^[2][3] The Latin noun is derived from rigeō (“to be stiff”).^[2][8]

Compare Old Occitan riguor, Spanish rigor and Italian rigore.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, at the end of the 12th century, is rigor d'orgoil “the harshness of pride” in the French sermons of Saint Gregory on Ezekiel, with the sense of inflexible severity.^[5]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it came to mean the strict application of the law: Beaumanoir writes selonc rigueur de droit about 1283,^[5][2] and the Académie recorded juges de rigueur in 1694.^[5] It was also used for a strict obligation (14th century).^[2] The plural rigueurs named repressive measures and acts of severity,^[5][2] and in the gallant vocabulary of the 17th century a woman's coldness towards a suitor (1667, Racine).^[2][8]

From the early 15th century it meant harshness that is hard to bear,^[2] and Montaigne wrote of la rigueur de l'hyver in 1580.^[5] The same year he used it for precision of thought, which led to the sense of methodical exactness.^[5][2]

A rigueur (about 1480) “strictly” became à la rigueur (1501), which took the modern sense “if need be” in the 18th and 19th centuries;^[5][2] en toute rigueur (1671) replaced it in the old sense.^[2] De rigueur “required by custom or rule” dates from 1690.^[2][9] In the second half of the 20th century the word came to describe strict control of public spending.^[2][9]

Timeline

• late 12th century – Rigor “inflexible severity” in the Sermons on Ezekiel.^[5]
• c. 1283 – Beaumanoir writes selonc rigueur de droit.^[5][2]
• c. 1480 – A rigueur “strictly” is recorded.^[5]
• 1538 – Tenir la rigueur à “to bear a grudge against” appears.^[2][8]
• 1559 – Amyot uses tenir rigueur à.^[2][8]
• 1580 – Montaigne writes of the rigour of winter and of precision of opinion.^[5]
• 1667 – Racine uses it for a woman's coldness.^[2][8]
• 1690 – De rigueur is recorded.^[2][9]
• 1724 – Marivaux uses à la rigueur in its modern sense.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inflexible severity, harshness;^[9][4] tenir rigueur à quelqu'un: to hold something against someone.^[9][4]
2. Harshness of the weather, especially of the cold.^[9][4]
3. (literary) In the plural: acts of severity, hardships.^[9]
4. Exactness, precision, strict logic.^[9][4]
5. (economics) Politique de rigueur: a policy of austerity.^[9][2]
6. De rigueur: required by custom or by the rules;^[9][2] délai de rigueur, a deadline that cannot be extended.^[9][2]
7. À la rigueur: if absolutely necessary, at a pinch.^[9][2]

Word family

• rigorisme
• rigoriste

Related words

• rigoureux
• rigide
• Latin rigor

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 n o p q r s t u v Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ^ 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, 405b
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert