caprice French · revision 15602

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1558, Bonaventure des Périers|origins=la caput}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ka.pʁis/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''caprice''' ''m'' (plural caprices)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|capriccio]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) which first meant “a shiver of fear or horror” (13th century) and then, in the 16th century, “a sudden odd desire, a whimsical idea”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The Italian word comes from [[m|it|capo|t=head]], from [[la|caput|t=head]], through a form [[m|it|caporiccio|t=bristling head]], perhaps because hair stands on end with fright.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Rey thinks the change of sense was helped by [[m|la|caper|t=goat]], and Littré explained the word as a goat's leap;^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) the Petit Robert still connects it with the goat.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1558 in Bonaventure des Périers' ''Nouvelles récréations'', of whims or wild impulses caused by hot blood.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A 16th-century writer noted ''quel caprice!'' as a phrase of the new Italianising French, and Henri Estienne defined the caprice as a will that comes suddenly without reason.^(Littré 1873) Classical writers saw it as a disorder of the mind close to folly,^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) while Romanticism revalued it as an artistic work of free fancy, the sense behind the musical [[capriccio]] (about 1800).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Avoir un caprice pour quelqu'un'' came to mean a sudden, passing love (Nerval).^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) The adjective [[capricieux]] (1584) was borrowed from Italian [[m|it|capriccioso]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – Italian ''capriccio'' “shiver of fear”.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1558 – First French record, in Bonaventure des Périers.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1565 – Used by Ronsard.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1584 – ''Capricieux'' is borrowed.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1690 – Furetière's dictionary records it as a work of art breaking the rules.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * about 1800 – The Italian form ''capriccio'' is taken into music.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|whim]], a sudden and unreasoned wish.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # A child's [[m|en|tantrum]]: ''faire un caprice''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A brief, passing love affair or infatuation.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' Sudden, unpredictable changes: ''les caprices de la mode, du temps''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(art, music)'' A free, fanciful work.^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[capricieux]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[capriccio]]

+ * [[chef]]

+ * [[la|caput]]

+ * [[en|caprice]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}