créole French · revision 15721

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1598, crollo|origins=la creō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kʁe.ɔl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''créole''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural créoles)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Crollo'' (1598), ''criollo'' (1643), ''criole'' (1676), ''créole'' from 1670^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989); Féraud (1787) notes that ''criole'' is no longer said.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|es|criollo]] (from 1590),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|2, 1296b) itself from [[pt|crioulo]], recorded in 1632 for a black person born in Brazil but probably first “servant brought up in the master's house”;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Old Portuguese also used it of hens raised at home.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It is derived, with an unclear suffix, from [[m|pt|cria|t=servant raised in the house]], a back-formation from [[m|pt|criar|t=to rear]], from [[la|creō|t=to create]], the source of [[créer]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The sense “creole language” was probably taken straight from Portuguese, as it first refers to the Portuguese spoken in Senegal.^(TLFi) Littré still thought the origin of “criollo” doubtful, some calling it a Carib word.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A French translation of José de Acosta's history of the Indies (1598) uses ''crollo'' for a Spaniard of pure white descent born in the colonies, presenting it as a Spanish word.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In French form, ''créole'' first appears in a letter of the Governor of the Antilles to Colbert (1670), for a white person born in the islands.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) Its use varies across the French-speaking world: on Mauritius it is a person of colour, in the Indian Ocean any person of mixed descent, in Louisiana formerly whites of French or Spanish descent^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873); ''nègre créole'' was a black person born in the colonies, as opposed to one brought by the slave trade.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ''Langue créole'' named a broken Portuguese spoken in Senegal in 1688, and ''patois créole'' the French of the colonies in Hugo (1826); ''le créole'' now names the languages that grew out of the slave trade.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse) As an adjective it describes things of these countries, and ''riz à la créole'' is known everywhere French is spoken.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) A ''créole'' is also a large hoop earring.^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1590 – Spanish ''criollo''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1598 – ''Crollo'', in a translation.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1632 – Portuguese ''crioulo''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1670 – ''Créole'' (letter to Colbert).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1688 – ''Langue créole'' in Senegal.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1762 – First recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 1826 – ''Patois créole'' (Hugo).^(TLFi)

+ * 1842 – ''Se créoliser''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|Creole|alt=creole]], a person of European descent born in the former tropical colonies, especially the [[m|en|Antilles]]; in some regions, a person of African or mixed descent.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A [[m|en|creole]] language, such as those of the Antilles and the Indian Ocean.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A large hoop [[m|en|earring]].^(Larousse)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Creole; of the creoles or their countries: ''musique créole''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Riz (à la) créole'': rice boiled and then dried.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[créer]]

+ * [[en|creole]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}