Etymologically
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stupide

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sty.pid/[1]

Forms

stupide (plural stupides)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin stupidus (“stunned, dumbfounded; motionless, in a trance”),[2][3][4][5] from stupeō (“to be numb; to be struck motionless”),[2][1] also the source of stupeur.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The French translation of Bernard de Gordon's Pratique (1377) uses it in medicine for “deprived of bodily movement”, numb.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Rabelais uses it for a kind of mental numbness (1534),[2] and Paré speaks of a chair stupide, flesh with little or no feeling.[6] The sense “unintelligent, dull” is in Montaigne (1588), according to the TLFi, and in Rabelais (1552), according to the GLLF;[2][4] the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the word's general use to 1599.[3][7] It was used as a noun by Molière (1666) and Scarron (1651), and of things, “absurd, senseless”, by Guez de Balzac (1654).[2][4] The old sense “stunned by astonishment” is now literary.[7][2]

Timeline

  • 1377 – Medical “numb”, in Bernard de Gordon.[2]
  • 1534 – Mental numbness, in Rabelais.[2]
  • 1588 – “Unintelligent”, in Montaigne.[2]
  • 1654 – “Absurd”, in Guez de Balzac.[2]
  • 1666 – As a noun, in Molière.[2]
  • 1694 – Recorded by the Académie.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Stupid, unintelligent, dull: La jeune recrue avait l'air tout à fait stupide.[7][1]
  2. Of a thing, absurd, senseless.[2][4]
  3. (literary or dated) Dumbfounded, struck with stupor: stupide de surprise.[7][2]

Word family

  • stupidement
  • stupidité
  • stupeur
  • stupéfait

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d 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. 12, 314a
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert