vandale

Forms

vandale m or f by sense (plural vandales)^[1] Old French wandele (1280); the form vandale is Voltaire's learned remaking (1732).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from French Vandale, the name of the Vandals, a people from the shores of the Baltic who invaded and ravaged Gaul, Spain and North Africa at the beginning of the 5th century.^[3][4] Rey describes it as borrowed from the Late Latin plural Vandalī, the name of a Germanic people from the region of the Oder and the Vistula.^[2][5] Like the Goths, the Vandals came to stand for barbarism and above all for destruction.^[2]

Wiktionary traces the Latin name to Proto-Germanic *wandilaz.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

As wandele it meant “plunderer, thief” in the anonymous chronicle of Tournai (1280); the derivative wandelart is found earlier, about 1215.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Voltaire revived it in the 18th century in the sense “barbarous”, as an adjective in 1732 and as a noun, “barbarous man”, in 1733.^[3][2][4] Littré defines the figurative noun as one who hates learning and civilization like a barbarian and destroys works of art, and notes that it was then written with a capital.^[6]

During the Revolution it gave vandalisme (1793), vandalique, vandaliste and vandaliser (1795), of which only vandalisme stayed in use.^[2] The abbé Grégoire made vandalisme known, believing he had coined it, to condemn the destruction of the monuments and libraries of the old monarchy by some revolutionaries; in 1794 he wrote that he had created the word in order to kill the thing.^[2][4][3]

Timeline

• 1280 – Wandele “plunderer, thief” appears in a chronicle from Tournai.^[3][2]
• 1732 – Voltaire uses vandale as an adjective meaning “barbarous”.^[3][4]
• 1733 – Voltaire uses it as a noun, “barbarous man”.^[3][2]
• 1793 – Vandalisme appears.^[2][4]
• 1795 – Vandalique, vandaliste and vandaliser are recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (figurative) A person who brutally and ignorantly destroys or damages public buildings and works of art: des vandales ont saccagé l'abribus.^[7][8]
2. A member of the Vandals, a Germanic people who in the 5th century invaded and devastated Gaul, southern Spain and North Africa (usually capitalized, Vandale).^[7][6][1]

Adjective

1. Relating to the Vandals: l'empire vandale.^[7][8]
2. Destructive, barbarous.^[3][8]

Word family

• vandaliser
• vandalisme

Related words

• Latin Vandalus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)