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romanticisme

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Etymology and origin of the French word romanticisme

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1818 Stendhal, Qu'est-ce que le romanticisme More words from the 19th century
Borrowed from
Italian romanticismo
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French romantique
English romantic
Italian romantico
English romanticism
French romanticisme
Romanian romantic
From the same root
Spanish romanticismo ← romantique

Forms

romanticisme m (plural romanticismes)[1]

Etymology

Stendhal brought the word into French in 1818.[2][3] The TLFi takes it as borrowed from Italian romanticismo, used by Stendhal in the same text, corresponding to French romantisme.[2] The Grand Robert gives it instead as borrowed from English romanticism (1803);[4] the DHLF allows either source,[3] and the GLLF hesitates between the English word and a French derivative of romantique.[5] The English word meant a fancy or chimera in 1803 and took its modern sense later (1824 in the TLFi, 1844 in the Grand Robert).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in Stendhal's essay Qu'est-ce que le romanticisme (1818), for the Romantic movement in literature.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Stendhal used it for the new literary movement in Racine et Shakspeare (1823),[2][6] but gave it up in 1824 for romantisme, which usage had adopted.[3][5] It survives mainly in literary history, for Romanticism in its early phase.[2]

Timeline

  • 1818 – Stendhal's Qu'est-ce que le romanticisme.[2]
  • 1819 – Another Stendhal text uses it (21 December).[5][6]
  • 1823 – Racine et Shakspeare defines the word.[2][6]
  • 1824 – Stendhal drops it for romantisme.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (literary history) Romantisme, especially in its first phase.[2][5]

Usage notes

Rey notes that today the word would pass for an anglicisme.[3]

References

  1. ^ 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Romanticisme.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/romanticisme. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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