verbeux

Forms

verbeux (feminine verbeuse, masculine plural verbeux, feminine plural verbeuses)^[1] Old French verbos, an isolated record of about 1200.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin verbōsus (“wordy, prolix”), from verbum (“word”).^[2][4][5] It is first found about 1200 as Old French verbos, and again in the modern form in 1530.^[2][4] Verbosité (1510) is likewise from the Late Latin verbōsitās.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, about 1200 in a French version of the Règle de saint Benoît, already has the Latin sense, “using too many words”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

After the isolated Old French record, Palsgrave gives verbeux, verbeuse in 1530.^[2] The word keeps the sense of the Latin, “expressing oneself too abundantly”, and is always pejorative; it now has little to do with verbe in meaning and goes with verbiage.^[7] Said first of people, it was applied to speech and style by 1714, in Fénelon.^[6] It has given the literary adverb verbeusement (late 18th century).^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Verbos appears in the Règle de saint Benoît.^[2][6]
• 1510 – Verbosité is recorded.^[4]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records verbeux, verbeuse.^[2][6]
• 1714 – Fénelon applies it to speech and style.^[6]
• Late 18th century – The adverb verbeusement appears.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Using too many words to say little, talkative, prolix: un conférencier verbeux.^[8][2][5]
2. Of speech or writing: wordy, diffuse: un rapport verbeux.^[8][6]

Noun

1. A wordy person.^[2]

Related words

• verbe
• verbiage
• verbosité
• verbal
• Latin verbum

References

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