voyou

Forms

voyou m (plural voyous, feminine voyouse or voyoute)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French voie (“way, street”) + -ou, literally one who roams the streets.^[2][3][4][1] The ending is a popular suffix, perhaps taken from filou.^[2][5][6][3] The noun voie comes from Latin via (“way, road”).^[1][3]

Charles Nisard explained the word instead as an alteration of voirou, said to have been used for garou (werewolf); Littré thought this unlikely.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

When it is first recorded, in Barbier in 1830, it already refers to a man of the lower or middle classes with disreputable morals.^[5][8] In a letter of 1832 Charles Nodier wrote that he did not know whether his correspondent knew what a voyou was, since the Académie had not said, and explained it as what in Paris would more elegantly be called a low street urchin.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Rey takes the original sense to have been “tramp, vagrant”, and the idea of having no fixed home lasted until about 1870–1880; the word became common only from 1870.^[5] It was used for a cheeky, ill-bred street child from 1844.^[5][6][4] Larchey in 1872 defined it as a man who has all the vices of the common people and none of their qualities.^[2] Its connotations changed with the social context, and today it implies delinquency.^[5]

The adjective appears in 1875 (Goncourt), applied by extension to behaviour in 1892.^[2][5][4] The feminine forms voyouse (1868) and voyoute (1864) are now little used as nouns.^[5] The scarf à la voyou knotted round the neck, worn with the cap of early 20th-century hoodlums, was itself called a voyou (Malet, 1952).^[5]

Timeline

• 1830 – First recorded, in Barbier.^[5][8][3]
• 1832 – Nodier explains the word in a letter.^[2]
• 1844 – “Street urchin”.^[5][6]
• 1857 – The derivative voyouterie appears in the Goncourts' journal.^[2]
• 1864 – Voyoutisme and the feminine voyoute are recorded.^[2][5]
• 1868 – The feminine voyouse.^[5]
• c. 1870 – The word becomes widespread.^[5][6]
• 1872 – Larchey defines it.^[2]
• 1875 – First use as an adjective, by the Goncourts.^[2][5]
• 1952 – Malet uses voyou for a kind of neck scarf.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thug, hoodlum; a man engaged in criminal activities: Une bande de voyous rôdait près de la gare.^{[9][10][11][1]}
2. A person of disreputable morals; a scoundrel.^[9][4][10]
3. An ill-bred street urchin; a little rascal, also as a term of address, petit voyou.^[9][11][2]

Adjective

1. Like a hoodlum, vulgar: un air voyou (feminine, rarely, voyoute).^[10][11][9]
2. État-voyou: a rogue state, one that does not respect the rules of international life.^[10]

Word family

• voyouterie
• voyoutisme

Related words

• voie
• filou

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)