trouble

Forms

trouble m (plural troubles)^[1] Adjective: trouble (plural troubles).^[1] Old French adjective truble (about 1112), troble (about 1160), torble, and trouble from the late 13th century (Joinville).^[2][3][4] The noun is first recorded as tourble (1283).^[4][5]

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Old French truble, inherited from Vulgar Latin *turbulus (“troubled, cloudy”), with metathesis of the ⟨r⟩.^[6][7][2][1] The Vulgar Latin form is a remaking of Latin turbidus (“troubled, agitated”) after turbulentus (“agitated, in disorder”) (see turbulent); both are derived from turba (“turmoil of a crowd”).^[6][8][2][3] The Late Latin verb *turbulō gave troubler.^[6][8]

The noun is a back-formation from French troubler, first recorded in 1283 (Beaumanoir).^[4][8][9] Wiktionary allows that it may also continue the Old French adjective troble.^[1] Littré derived it from Latin turbula (“small crowd”), with a change of gender.^[5]

Cognate with Romanian tulbure, Catalan tèrbol and Old Occitan trebol.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first found as truble in the Voyage de saint Brendan (early 12th century), of a liquid that is not clear.^[6][2] The noun first appears in Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis (1283) as the legal term for a disturbance of possession: la demande qui est fete por tourble de saizine (“the claim made for disturbance of seisin”).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was first said of a liquid that is not clear, hence vin trouble and the figurative pescher en l'eve troble (about 1160), now pêcher en eau trouble “to fish in troubled waters”.^[2] Of the mind it meant confused, anxious (1150–70), and of words or ideas unclear (1283).^[6] It was said of a dark place or night (about 1220) and of misty weather (about 1354), the first use now gone and the second archaic.^[2] Voir trouble is used figuratively from the early 15th century and literally from 1539 (Calvin); la vue trouble is from 1665 (Molière).^[2][6]

The noun was used of mental agitation from the late 12th century, and since about 1450 of a disorder of the mind.^[2] In classical French it was the inner agitation of strong feeling, especially love (Racine, 1677).^[2] Of society it named disorder (1262), now archaic in the singular except in jeter le trouble (about 1360), but kept in the plural les troubles “civil unrest” (1468).^[2] In law it has meant interference with the enjoyment of property since the late 13th century.^[2][5] The medical sense, mostly plural, of a disorder of the body (1842) or of behaviour (late 19th century) is now common.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1112 – The adjective truble appears in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[3][2]
• c. 1160 – Troble is recorded, with pescher en l'eve troble.^[2][3]
• 1283 – Beaumanoir uses the noun tourble in law.^[4][8]
• c. 1300 – Troble-feste “an importunate person” is recorded.^[2][8]
• 1468 – Les troubles “civil unrest” is recorded.^[2]
• 1539 – Calvin writes voir trouble.^[6]
• 1606 – Pêcher en eau trouble takes its modern form.^[2]
• 1842 – The medical sense of the noun appears.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a liquid: cloudy, murky, not clear: une eau trouble.^[9][11] Pêcher en eau trouble: to profit from confusion.^[9][11]
2. Not sharp or distinct: une photo trouble.^[9][11] Des yeux troubles: dull, vague eyes.^[9][11]
3. Unclear, suspicious, shady: une affaire trouble.^[11]

Adverb

1. Voir trouble: to see indistinctly.^[11][6]

Noun

1. (literary) Disorder, confusion.^[9][11] Jeter le trouble, semer le trouble: to cause discord.^[9][11]
2. (plural) Civil unrest, riots: des troubles politiques.^[9]
3. A state of agitation, anxiety or emotion: elle ne put cacher son trouble.^[11] (literary) The emotion of love.^[11]
4. (medicine) A disorder of a bodily or mental function: des troubles digestifs.^[11][1]
5. (law) Interference with someone's enjoyment of a property, by an act (trouble de fait) or a legal claim (trouble de droit).^[11][5]

Word family

• trouble-fête

Related words

• troubler
• turbulent
• Latin turbidus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 427a
8. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)