honnête French · revision 15937

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=la honōs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɔ.nɛt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''honnête''' (plural honnêtes)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|honeste]], ''oneste'', ''honneste'' (15th century), ''honnête'' (17th century).^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|honestus|t=honourable, respected; virtuous; fine]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|4, 461b) from [[la|honōs|t=honour]], through a stem “*honos, honeris” (see [[honneur]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|honest]], [[es|honesto]] and [[it|onesto]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The prologue of the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (mid-11th century) says that the saint's youth ''fut honeste e spiritel'', honourable and spiritual.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 12th century it described what is seemly (about 1160) and persons noble and worthy of esteem (about 1174), senses now lost, and about 1280 it meant “courteous, civil”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From the mid-15th century an ''honnête femme'' was a chaste woman (Monstrelet), a use that now sounds dated.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Honnête homme'' (1538) was in Montaigne (1580) an affable man of pleasant conversation, and in the 17th century the ideal gentleman of Faret's ''L'Honnête Homme ou l'Art de plaire à la Cour'' (1630), combining birth, culture, courage and probity;^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) the phrase now refers to that period.^(DHLF 1992) The modern sense “who respects the property of others” is in Molière (1669), whence ''trop poli pour être honnête''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From the idea of fitness come ''un prix honnête'', ''un vin honnête'' “decent”, and the polite ''vous êtes bien honnête'' (1781).^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) The noun ''honnêteté'' remakes the older ''onesté'' (about 881).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 881 – ''Onesté'' “honour”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Honeste'' in ''Saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – “Seemly”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1280 – “Courteous”.^(TLFi)

+ * Mid-15th century – ''Honnestes femmes'' in Monstrelet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – ''Honnête homme''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1630 – Faret's ''L'Honnête Homme''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1669 – “Honest (with property)”, in Molière.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|honest|alt=Honest]], upright: ''un homme honnête''; scrupulous in money matters.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Sincere, frank: ''sois honnête''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Decent, reasonable, fair: ''un salaire honnête'', ''une honnête moyenne''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(dated)'' Of a woman, virtuous.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(history)'' ''Honnête homme'': the cultivated gentleman of the 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(dated)'' Polite: ''vous êtes bien honnête''.^(BHVF)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[honnêtement]]

+ * [[honnêteté]]

+ * [[déshonnête]]

+ * [[malhonnête]]

+ * [[honnêtement]]

+ * [[honnêteté]]

+ * [[malhonnête]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[honneur]]

+ * [[honorer]]

+ * [[la|honestus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}