tiède

Forms

tiède (plural tièdes)^[1] Old French tieve, teve, teide;^[2][3][4] tiede from about 1380.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tiede, inherited from Latin tepidus (“lukewarm, cooled”), from tepeō (“to be lukewarm”).^[4][2][5] The Old French form comes by regular syncope from an earlier *tebde; the attested tieve and teve are an eastern form in which the proparoxytone of Latin was shortened by apocope instead.^[1][4] Rey traces the Latin verb to the root Proto-Indo-European *tep- (“heat”), also seen in Old Church Slavonic топлъ (toplŭ, “warm”) and Sanskrit तपति (tápati).^[2]

Compare Italian tiepido, Spanish tibio, Catalan tebi and Old Occitan tebe.^[6][7] tépide is a learned borrowing of the same Latin word (1552).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1174–1175 as eve tieve “lukewarm water” in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Thomas Becket, meaning between hot and cold.^[4][8] The figurative sense “lacking fervour” follows at the end of the 12th century, in les teues cuers of a French sermon of Gregory the Great.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Both senses of Latin tepidus passed into French: the physical sense of something neither hot nor cold, and the figurative sense of a person lacking zeal or fervour (about 1190), used as a noun from 1656 (un tiède).^[2][4] From 1674 (Sévigné) it qualifies a way of acting or thinking that lacks ardour.^[4] The sense “pleasantly mild”, of a sensation or a feeling, is clearly recorded only about 1830, in Lamartine.^[4][2]

The family built on tiède (tiédeur, tiédir, attiédir) won out over the borrowed tépide.^[2] The figurative use also echoes Dante's Inferno, where those who are neither for God nor for the devil are placed: l'enfer des tièdes.^[7]

Timeline

• 1174–1175 – Eve tieve in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[4]
• End of the 12th century – Teues cuers “lukewarm hearts”, the figurative sense.^[4]
• c. 1230 – The form teide in the Livre d'Artus.^[8][2]
• c. 1380 – The form tiede appears.^[4][3]
• 1552 – The learned doublet tépide is borrowed.^[2]
• 1656 – Corneille uses it as a noun for a lukewarm believer.^[4]
• 1830 – Lamartine uses it of a pleasantly mild sensation.^[4]
• 1941 – The derivative tiédasse is first recorded.^[4][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lukewarm, tepid, between hot and cold: du thé tiède; of drinks or food, not hot enough.^[9][8]
2. Mild and pleasant: une brise tiède;^[9][4] il fait tiède (familiar), the weather is mild.^[9][4]
3. (figurative) Lacking zeal or fervour, half-hearted: des partisans un peu tièdes.^[9][4]

Noun

1. A lukewarm, half-hearted person, especially in religion or politics.^[4][7]

Adverb

1. Boire tiède: to drink lukewarm drinks.^[9][7]

Word family

• tiédeur
• tiédir
• attiédir
• tièdement
• tiédasse

Related words

• tépide
• Latin tepidus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 232b
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert