tristesse

Forms

tristesse f (plural tristesses)^[1] Old French tristece and tristesce.^[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French triste + -esse on the model of Latin trīstitia (“affliction, gloominess, severity”).^[2][1] The GLLF allows either source, and Picoche and Littré derive it from the Latin word,^[4][5][3] a derivative of trīstis (“sad”).^[4][3] Littré notes that the usual Old French word was tristor.^[3]

Cognate with Italian tristezza, Old Occitan tristessa, Catalan tristesa, Spanish tristeza and Portuguese tristeza.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as tristece about 1165 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie, for a state of affliction caused by a misfortune.^[2][7] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has a record from the first third of the 12th century, with the senses “sadness, sorrow” and the deadly sin of melancholy, or sloth.^[8]

Semantic evolution

About 1370 Oresme uses it for the cause of sadness and the time one spends in it.^[7][4] From the 17th century it also names what shows or marks that state (1690, Furetière).^[7][4] In classical French it was said of what is grave or severe (before 1696, La Bruyère).^[7] Its use for the melancholy character of a landscape or an object dates from 1782, in Mme de Genlis, with the sensibility of the age before Romanticism.^[7][4]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Tristece appears in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie.^[2]
• c. 1180 – Marie de France uses it.^[4]
• c. 1370 – Oresme uses it for the cause of sadness.^[7][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense of what shows sadness.^[4][7]
• Before 1696 – La Bruyère uses it of what is grave or severe.^[7][4]
• 1782 – Mme de Genlis uses it of the melancholy of things.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sadness, a lasting state of sorrow or melancholy.^[9][10]
2. A sad look or manner: elle répondit avec tristesse.^[10][9]
3. The dreary or melancholy character of a thing: la tristesse d'une rue vide.^[10][7]
4. Something saddening or deplorable.^[10][9]

Related words

• triste
• tristement
• attrister
• contrister
• Latin trīstitia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)