séditieux

Forms

séditieux (feminine séditieuse, masculine plural séditieux, feminine plural séditieuses)^[1] Middle French sedicieus and seditieux.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēditiōsus (“factious, exposed to unrest”), from sēditiō, the source of sédition.^[2][4][5][1] The Académie glosses the Latin noun as “a going apart, disunion”, later “schism”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bersuire's translation of Livy, about 1355, in cri sedicieus, a cry that stirs up sedition.^[2][3] About 1370 Oresme speaks of a cité seditieuse, a city in revolt.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the Latin sense: said of people, it means taking part in or inclined to sedition, and of things (writings, gatherings, speeches), tending to provoke it.^[4][2][7] The noun use, un séditieux, a rebel, is recorded from 1413 in a letter of Charles VI that speaks of seditieux, troubleurs de paix, and is now literary and rare.^[2][4][3] Littré also gives a figurative use for whatever unsettles the mind as sedition unsettles a state.^[3]

The adverb séditieusement is as old as the adjective (about 1355) and is rare today.^[4][7]

Timeline

• c. 1355 – Bersuire's cri sedicieus.^[2][4]
• c. 1370 – Oresme uses it of a city in revolt.^[2][8]
• 1413 – First use as a noun, in a letter of Charles VI.^[2][7]
• 1662 – Bossuet uses the adjective of things that push towards revolt.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Taking part in a sédition, or inclined to it, seditious: des soldats séditieux.^[7][9][6]
2. Tending to provoke sedition: des tracts séditieux.^[7][9][2]

Noun

1. (literary) A rebel, an agitateur: Les séditieux ont été jugés.^[2][7][4]

Word family

• séditieusement

Related words

• sédition
• Latin sēditiōsus

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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)