sanglant

Forms

sanglant (feminine sanglante, masculine plural sanglants, feminine plural sanglantes)^[1] Old French sanglent, beside sanglant.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include sanclent and senglant.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sanglent, inherited from Late Latin sanguilentus (“bloody”), a rare variant of Latin sanguinolentus, the Classical form and the source of the learned sanguinolent.^{[5][6][2][7][8]} The Latin words belong to the family of sanguis (“blood”).^[7]

Littré rejects linking the sense “outrageous” with the verb sangler: its history shows the same adjective used figuratively.^[9]

Cognate with Spanish sangriento.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has acer sanglant “bloody steel” and “Sanglant en ert li branz entresqu'à l'or” (“the blade will be bloody up to the gold of the hilt”), meaning covered with blood; the same poem uses it of men covered with their own blood.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has always lived mostly in contexts of violence.^[7] From “covered with blood” it came to describe what is reddened by blood that was shed (1155) and a person who sheds blood, “bloodthirsty” (about 1175).^[5][7] Until the 16th century it was also used to strengthen an insult or a pejorative word, as in le sanglant pis “the very worst” (about 1450), a use English bloody has kept.^[7]

In the 16th century it was applied to fighting that sheds blood (Ronsard's sanglans combas, 1554) and to things of the colour of blood (rose sanglante, 1564).^[5] Corneille used it in 1641 of what is marked by murders, and Molière in 1660 in the sense “outrageous, cutting”, of an insult.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Acer sanglant in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• 1155 – Wace uses it of what is reddened by shed blood.^[5]
• c. 1175 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for “bloodthirsty”.^[5]
• c. 1450 – Le sanglant pis “the very worst”.^[7]
• 1554 – Ronsard writes sanglans combas.^[5]
• 1564 – Ronsard's rose sanglante, of the colour of blood.^[5]
• 1641 – Corneille's Horace uses it figuratively of what is marked by murders.^[5]
• 1660 – Molière uses it for “outrageous” in Les Précieuses ridicules.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. bloody, covered with blood, bleeding: une plaie sanglante, un couteau sanglant.^[10][11]
2. (literary) blood-red, of the colour of blood: un ciel sanglant au couchant.^[10][1]
3. That sheds much blood, murderous: une guerre sanglante, une mort sanglante.^[11][9]
4. (figurative) Extremely harsh and insulting: un reproche sanglant.^[11][5]

Word family

• ensanglanter

Related words

• sang
• sanguinolent
• Latin sanguis

Usage notes

Sacrifice non sanglant is the sacrifice of the Mass.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 154a
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)