trahison

Forms

trahison f (plural trahisons)^[1] Old French traïsun and traïson;^[2][3] trahison is found in the 13th century and became the usual spelling in the 16th.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman forms include treson and treïsoun.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French traïsun, from Old French traïr (“to betray”) + -ison, the first being the old form of trahir.^[5][6][3][1] The TLFi analyses the ending as the suffix -on.^[5] Littré and Meyer-Lübke instead derive it from Latin trāditiō (“handing over, betrayal”), the source of the learned tradition, and Wiktionary allows both.^[7][8][1] The old verb itself is a remodelling of Latin trādō (“to hand over, betray”) on the verbs in ⟨-ir⟩.^[9] The ⟨h⟩ was written to keep the two vowels apart.^[9]

Cognate with Old Occitan traizon, Catalan traïció, Spanish traición and Portuguese traição.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as traïsun in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), meaning betrayal: Guenes i vint, ki la traïson fist “Guenes came there, he who committed the treason”.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

In Old French par traïson meant “treacherously” (about 1160).^[5] The Anglo-French form gave English treason about 1200,^[10] and English law French had graunt treysoun “high treason” in 1292.^[5]

Haute trahison is a calque of the English high treason, itself made with the borrowed French word.^[9][3][2] Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1677 and the TLFi to 1649; it was first said only of English events and replaced lèse-majesté for French ones towards the end of the 18th century.^[9][5] Its modern sense, dealings with the enemy, dates from the Code pénal of 1810, and its use for a grave failure of the President of the Republic from 1876.^[2][3]

Since 1673 (Racine) the word has also meant unfaithfulness in love,^[2][3] and since 1642 (Corneille) it has meant the distortion of someone's thought in presenting it.^[3][2] Littré records la trahison des sens, the surprise victory of the senses over reason.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Traïsun appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• c. 1160 – Par traïson “treacherously” in the Roman d'Eneas.^[5]
• c. 1200 – English treisoun is borrowed from Anglo-French.^[10]
• 13th century – The spelling trahison in the Chronique de Rains.^[2][7]
• 1292 – Graunt treysoun “high treason” in Britton.^[5]
• 1538 – The refashioned form trahison.^[3]
• 1642 – Corneille uses it of distorting someone's thought.^[2][3]
• 1649 – First record of haute trahison in the TLFi.^[5]
• 1673 – Racine uses it for unfaithfulness in love.^[2][3]
• 1677 – Haute trahison, calqued on English, in Bloch and Wartburg's dating.^[9][3]
• 1810 – The Code pénal gives haute trahison its modern sense.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. treason, the crime of betraying one's country or going over to the enemy;^[11][7] haute trahison, high treason, also a grave breach of duty by the President of the Republic.^[11][7]
2. Betrayal, a breach of loyalty or trust; treachery.^[11][5]
3. Serious unfaithfulness in love.^[11][7]
4. (figurative) Something that catches one out unexpectedly, a pitfall: la trahison des sens.^[7][1]

Word family

• haute trahison

Related words

• trahir
• tradition
• traître
• Latin trāditiō
• English treason

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert