majesté

Forms

majesté f (oblique plural majestez)^[1]

• majested, majestet, majesteit, majeté, magesté, magested, majestee^[2][3][4]

The DHLF gives the order majested (about 1118), majestet (about 1120), majeté (1180) and majesté (1365).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin maiestās (“greatness, dignity”),^[5][6][7] a derivative of maior (“greater”), the comparative of magnus (“great”).^[5] In Late Latin the word was a title of an emperor, king or pope, in Medieval Latin it meant sovereignty, and by about 1031 it named the image of Christ enthroned.^[5][2]

The DHLF and the FEW also record a popular form of the same Latin word, maesté or maïsté, which the learned word replaced in Middle French.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Anglo-Norman Voyage de saint Brendan by Benedeit, of the first quarter of the 12th century, which the TLFi dates to about 1120.^[8][5] There it means the grandeur that commands respect, and the same poem calls Christ reis de majestet “king of majesty”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word came in through religion, for the supreme greatness of God, in Deu de majestet and rei de majestet, and, from about 1140 it named a painted or carved image of a saint or of Christ in majesty, a sense that survives in iconography.^[2][5] About 1180 the Vengeance Alexandre uses it for a sovereign.^[5]

A second borrowing from Latin, prompted by the sacred character of kingship, applied it to the king of France from about 1360, then to the king himself, and, from the 16th century to grandeur of any person, style or building.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg note that it was first said of God and only from Froissart of the French king.^[6] Its modern form is French majesté.^[5]

Timeline

• 1100–1125 – majested and reis de majestet in Benedeit's Voyage de saint Brendan (about 1120 by the TLFi's dating).^[8][5]
• 1121–1125 – the first Anglo-Norman citation in the AND.^[4]
• c. 1140 – “image of a saint” in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[5]
• 1133–1166 – maieste in the Charroi de Nîmes.^[9]
• c. 1180 – majeté of a sovereign in the Vengeance Alexandre.^[5][3]
• 1365 – the spelling majesté and the sense “sovereign dignity” in Oresme.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. the majesty or supreme greatness of God;^[4][3] God almighty.^[4][3]
2. royal or imperial majesty, grandeur.^[4][5]
3. an image of God or Christ in majesty, or of a saint.^[4][5]
4. (by extension) heaven, in en le maisté.^[3]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word majesté, first cites it from 1121–1125, and lists spellings from magesté and magested to majestie and maiestee.^[4] Besides the majesty of God and of a king, the insular texts use it for depictions of divine majesty and of the Judgement.^[4] Middle English mageste comes from Old French and is recorded from about 1300; it is the English majesty.^[10][11]

Descendants

• French majesté^[5]
• Middle English mageste (borrowed; → English majesty)^[10][11]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy's Complément, the AND and the DMF head the word majesté.^{[12][13][4][14]} The DEAF has only a list of references for it.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. majesté
3. ^ a b c d e f Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6:53
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. majesté
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 424
7. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 626
8. ^ 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. BrendanW
9. ^ Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. CharroiM
10. ^ a b 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)
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 5:927
13. ^ 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. 10:108
14. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. majesté
15. ^ 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. majesté