vandalisme

Forms

vandalisme m (plural vandalismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French vandale + -isme.^[2][3][1] The Abbé Grégoire made it known, believing he had created it (“I created the word to kill the thing”), to condemn the destruction of the artistic heritage of the Ancien Régime by some revolutionaries.^[2][4][5]

The noun vandale, first wandele “plunderer, thief” (1280) and refashioned in a learned form by Voltaire in 1732 in the sense “barbarian”, comes from Late Latin Vandalī, the name of a Germanic people who ravaged Gaul, Spain and North Africa early in the 5th century.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1793 in the Abbé Grégoire's protest against the destruction of libraries and monuments that recalled the monarchy;^[4][5][3] the TLFi cites his Mémoires (1794).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Of the words formed on vandale during the Revolution, vandalique, vandaliste and vandaliser (all 1795), only vandalisme remained in use.^[4] It lost its political sense and came to mean the wanton destruction of objects and equipment, especially public property; from it vandale took the new sense “destroyer”.^[4]

English borrowed it in 1794 as vandalism, used for an act of vandalism by 1882.^[6]

Timeline

• 1793 – The Abbé Grégoire launches the word.^[4][3][7]
• 1794 – It appears in Grégoire's Mémoires.^[2][8]
• 1794 – English borrows it as vandalism.^[6]
• 1795 – Vandalique, vandaliste and vandaliser are formed.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tendency to destroy or damage works of art and fine or venerable things out of ignorance or stupidity.^[7][8][9]
2. The wanton destruction or damage of property, especially public buildings and equipment; an act of this kind, as in actes de vandalisme.^[7][10][2]

Related words

• vandale
• vandaliser
• English vandalism

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)