Etymologically
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risque

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁisk/[1]

Forms

risque m (plural risques)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Italian risco (modern Italian rischio),[2][3][4][1] which corresponds to Medieval Latin resicum, risicus, recorded at Marseille, Bologna and elsewhere from the 12th and 13th centuries.[2][3] The further origin is disputed.[3][5] The TLFi, Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF derive it from Vulgar Latin *resecum (“that which cuts”), from Latin resecō (“to cut off”), hence “sheer rock”, then “reef”, and finally the risk run by goods carried by sea;[2][4][6][7] Spanish risco (“crag”) keeps the sense of rock.[2][3] Guiraud rejected this “nautical romance” and proposed a Romance Vulgar Latin *rixicō, from Latin rixor (“to quarrel”);[3][5] others pointed to Ancient Greek ῥιζικόν (rhizikón, “chance, fate”), which the TLFi thinks cannot explain the vowel of the Medieval Latin forms.[8][2][9]

Related are Spanish riesgo, Catalan reec and Old Occitan rezegue (“risk to goods at sea”).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is recorded from 1557 (1578 in Henri Estienne, who lists it among new Italianisms), at first as a feminine noun meaning a danger or likely harm.[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The masculine gender took over in the 17th century (Pascal 1657, Molière 1663), though à toute risque lasted until the end of the century.[3][5][4] Phrases followed: courir risque (1596), au risque de (1694), à tout risque (about 1770), aux risques et périls de (1769) and, in the 20th century, prendre des risques.[3][6]

In law and insurance it is the possibility of a future loss and the event insured against (Furetière, 1690; insurance, 1842).[2][6] The verb risquer is from the 16th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 1557 – First record, as a feminine noun.[3][5]
  • 1578 – Henri Estienne.[2][4]
  • 1657 – Masculine gender (Pascal).[5][6]
  • 1690 – Legal sense (Furetière).[2][6]
  • 1694 – Au risque de.[2][3]
  • 1842 – Insurance sense.[6]
  • 1870 – Risque-tout “daredevil”.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A risk, a possible danger or harm: courir un risque.[8][10]
  2. (insurance, law) The possibility of a loss, or the loss insured against.[8][6]
  3. Au risque de: at the risk of.[8]

Word family

  • risquer
  • risque-tout

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 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 f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 292a
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)