extreme

Forms

extreme adjective^[1]

• estreme^[2][3]
• extresme^[4][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin extrēmus (“outermost, last”).^[5][6][2][7] The Latin adjective is the superlative of exter (“outer”),^[7] formed with the suffix of postrēmus and suprēmus from earlier *extrezmo-, Proto-Italic *eksterisemos.^[8]

In Old Occitan the Latin word lived on as Old Occitan estrem (“extreme, last”), and Gascon dialects keep it as a noun for a side or an end.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The FEW, Gamillscheg and Bloch and Wartburg date the word to the 13th century, Bloch and Wartburg in the form estreme.^[9][6][2] The first text the DEAF cites is a prose life of Mary Magdalene, tentatively dated to the 14th century and copied in a manuscript of the late 15th century, where the adjective means "at the end of something".^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first applied, as in Latin, to what is at the last or a very high degree: Oresme's Ethics of 1370–1372 has necessité extreme "extreme need", and uses it as a noun too.^[7][11] Godefroy's senses run from "at the end" and "at two opposite ends" to "highest, last, supreme", with the noun for an extreme point.^[12] The noun was used in logic, and for a violent course.^[11] The spatial sense "outermost, farthest" is in Antoine de La Sale about 1442–1444,^[13] and the TLFi dates it from Palissy in 1563.^[7] The figurative "furthest from the mean, excessive" is of the mid-16th century.^[11] The modern word is French extrême.^[7]

Timeline

• 1200s – estreme.^[2][9]
• 1300s (?) – a prose life of Mary Magdalene, in a manuscript of the late 15th century.^[4][10]
• 1370–1372 – adjective and noun in Oresme's Ethics.^[7][11]
• 1372–1373 – extremes in Oresme's Politics.^[4]
• 1490 – extresme in the Passion of Troyes.^[4]
• 1563 – "outermost" in Palissy.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. situated at the end of something; outermost.^[4][12]
2. in the highest degree; utmost, supreme.^[7][12]

Noun

1. an extreme point; the ultimate limit of things.^[4][12]

Word family

• extremiser

Descendants

• Middle French extreme (→ French extrême)^[13][7]
• Middle English extreme (borrowed; → English extreme)^[14][15]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy's supplement and the DMF head the word extreme;^[1][12][13] the AND has no entry for it.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 3:1539
2. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 289
3. ^ a b FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
4. ^ a b c d e f g Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. extreme
5. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3:334
6. ^ a b Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 436
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
9. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3:335
10. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. SMadSancC
11. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. extrême
12. ^ a b c d e Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 9:588
13. ^ a b c Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. extreme
14. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ ATILF (2017), LGeRM: lexique morphologique du moyen français, version 2.0.0, Nancy: ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, ORTOLANG (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 FR), p. s.v. extrême