rustre

Forms

rustre (plural rustres)^[1] Old French ruiste, ruste and ruistre;^[2][3][4] ruste lasted beside rustre until the 17th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ruiste, borrowed from Latin rūsticus (“rustic, of the country”), remade in 1375 after the Latin word.^[2][3][4][5] The Old French form was a semi-learned adaptation of the Latin one.^[2][3] The same Latin word was borrowed again as rustique.^[3][6] The Old French word meant violent and rough, of a blow or a fight, vigorous and valiant, of a man, and difficult, of a slope or a ford, and also important, of a piece of advice; in the 14th century, through contact with the Latin word, it took the Latin meaning.^[3][2] Littré takes the ⟨r⟩ as epenthetic, as in esclandre, and Rey thinks the influence of rude probable.^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1120 the Voyage de saint Brendan has bestes ruistes “wild beasts” and uses the word of an important piece of advice; the Cambridge Psalter applies ruiste to a coarse person in the first half of the 12th century.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As rustre the noun named a coarse, brutal, uneducated man (1375), and by 1607 also a pretentious one.^[3][4] La Fontaine used it as an adjective for a coarse person (1668) and neutrally for a countryman or peasant (1678), but this neutral sense did not take root.^[2][3] From 1751 it is also said of what shows a lack of refinement, as un ton rustre.^[2][3] Historically, rustres named the peasants of an Anabaptist sect who stirred up revolts in the 16th century.^[3] Its derivative rustaud (1530) dropped the ⟨r⟩ by dissimilation.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Old French ruiste appears in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2][4]
• c. 1190 – The form ruste is found.^[3]
• 1375 – Raoul de Presles writes rustre.^[3][4]
• 1530 – The derivative rustaud appears.^[3]
• 1668 – La Fontaine uses it as an adjective.^[2][3]
• 1678 – La Fontaine uses it for a peasant.^[2][3]
• 1751 – Ton rustre is said of manners.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A coarse, boorish person without manners, a lout: quel rustre !^[8][2]
2. (dated) A countryman, a paysan.^[8][2][4]

Adjective

1. Uncouth, lacking refinement or courtesy: un voisin un peu rustre.^[8][2]

Word family

• rustaud
• rustrerie

Related words

• rustique
• Latin rūsticus

Usage notes

A separate rustre is a term of heraldry, a lozenge pierced with a round hole, which Littré also gives as the name of a lance used in the lists;^[7][1][9] Wiktionary derives it from German Raute (“lozenge”).^[7][1][9]

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 l m n o 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 k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 592b
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 746a