tolérant

Forms

tolérant (feminine tolérante, masculine plural tolérants, feminine plural tolérantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is the present participle from French tolérer, used as an adjective;^[2][3] the GLLF also allows the influence of Latin tolerāns (“enduring”), the present participle of tolerō.^[4] The French verb, recorded about 1393, is borrowed from that Latin verb, which meant “to bear, endure”.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first recorded at the end of the 15th century in Molinet, meaning “bearing hardships such as thirst patiently”, a sense that has gone out of use.^[4][2] The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Bloch–Wartburg date it to 1544.^[3][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed the verb through a religious specialization: it was used as a noun in 1689 and as an adjective by Bossuet in 1691, first of Protestants who accepted dissenting sects.^[2][5] Littré records les tolérants and les non-tolérants as names of the two Protestant parties of the 17th century.^[8] The adjective took root better than the verb in the active sense “respecting the freedom of others' beliefs and opinions”.^[2]

The sense “indulgent, easy-going towards what one does not approve of” is recorded in 1782 in Madame de Genlis's Adèle.^[5][2][4] The GLLF records from 1964 (Larousse) a use in plant pathology, of a plant that can be infected by a parasite without suffering much.^[4] The derivatives tolérantisme (1721) and intolérant belong to the same period.^[5][6][2]

Timeline

• Late 15th century – Molinet uses it for “bearing patiently”.^[4][2]
• 1544 – The date given by the Robert dictionaries and Bloch–Wartburg.^[3][6]
• 1689 – Used as a noun in the religious sense.^[2]
• 1691 – Bossuet uses the adjective of religious tolerance.^[5][2]
• 1721 – Tolérantisme appears in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux.^[5]
• 1782 – Madame de Genlis uses it for “indulgent”.^[5][4]
• 1964 – Larousse records the sense in plant pathology.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Indulgent, understanding: letting others do as they wish without reproaching them: des grands-parents très tolérants.^[7][5][4]
2. Practising tolérance in matters of religion, philosophy or politics; tolerant: une société tolérante.^[7][5][4]
3. (noun) A tolerant person: les tolérants.^[7][5][8]
4. (plant pathology) Of a plant, able to carry a parasite or virus without suffering much.^[4]

Word family

• tolérantisme
• intolérant

Related words

• tolérer
• tolérance
• tolérable
• intolérance
• Latin tolerō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette