virtuose

Forms

virtuose (plural virtuoses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian virtuoso (“one who masters an art or science”), recorded in that sense in Italian from 1525 (Aretino) and earlier, from the 14th century, as an adjective meaning virtuous.^[2][3][4] The Italian word is from virtù (“virtue, power, quality”), from Latin virtūs.^[2][5][3] Littré traces it instead to Latin virtuōsus, the source of vertueux;^[6] Wiktionary calls the two French words doublets.^[1] The Italian form itself was used in French from 1654 to 1755.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi first finds it in 1649, in a letter by Fortin de la Hoguette in Mersenne's correspondence, for a person gifted in several sciences and arts;^[2] Rey, Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert date the word to 1640.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, a person of exceptional merit or a cultivated lover of the sciences and arts, has gone out of use; in the 17th century it was also rendered by vertueux (1640 to the 1680s).^[3][7] In Molière's Le Sicilien (1667) a character says Signor, je suis un virtuose, meaning someone who dabbles in music and dance.^[2][4] The word then narrowed to a musician of brilliant technique (Rousseau, 1761) and spread in the 18th century to masters of other arts and skills.^[2][3] It has been used as an adjective since 1857 (Sainte-Beuve).^[2][3] The derivative virtuosité dates from 1857 in music and 1859 in a wider sense, later also for empty technical brilliance (1897).^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1649 – First recorded, of a person gifted in many fields.^[2]
• 1654 – The Italian form virtuoso appears in French, in Guez de Balzac.^[2]
• 1667 – Molière's Le Sicilien uses it of someone versed in music and dance.^[2][3]
• 1761 – Rousseau's La Nouvelle Héloïse uses it for a musician of great talent.^[2]
• 1857 – First used as an adjective, by Sainte-Beuve.^[2][3]
• 1883 – Huysmans uses the pejorative derivative virtuosisme.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A musician whose brilliant technique masters the greatest difficulties of performance: une virtuose du violon.^[7][2]
2. A person extremely skilled in an art or other activity: un virtuose de la caricature.^[7][8]
3. (obsolete) A very gifted person, a cultivated lover of the sciences and arts.^[7][2]

Adjective

1. Showing brilliant technique: une pianiste virtuose.^[7][3]

Word family

• virtuosité
• virtuosisme

Related words

• vertu
• vertueux
• Italian virtuoso
• Latin virtūs

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse