élite French · revision 16027

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1176, Chrétien de Troyes}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''élite''' ''f'' (plural élites)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|eslite]], ''élite'' from the 16th century.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine, used as a noun, of [[m|fro|eslit|t=chosen]] (12th–16th century), the old past participle of [[élire|t=to choose, elect]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) which modern French has replaced by “élu”.^(Wiktionary) “Élire” is Vulgar Latin “*exlegere”, remade from [[la|ēligō|alt=ēligere|t=to pick out]] after “legere”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Chrétien de Troyes's ''Cligès'' (1176) has ''a vostre eslite'' “at your choice”;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the sense “choice” lasted until the 16th century (''Berte'': ''trestout à vostre eslite'').^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At the end of the 14th century (Christine de Pisan, Froissart's ''cinq cents lances à l'elite de tous les meilleurs d'Escosse'') it meant the best of anything.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Modern French no longer uses it of things, only of the best people in a group, qualified (''l'élite intellectuelle'') or not (''l'élite''); classical French did not give it today's evaluative value.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) ''D'élite'' first appears in ''troupe d'élite'' (1641, figuratively), extended in the 19th century (''tireur d'élite''), and the plural ''les élites'' (1928) names those in the first rank in every field.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The mid-20th century formed ''élitaire'', ''élitisme'' (about 1967) and ''élitiste'' (about 1968).^(DHLF 1992) In the Swiss army ''l'élite'' was the first levy, of men aged 20 to 32.^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse)

+

+ English took ''elite'' from French in 1823 (Byron's ''Don Juan''), after an earlier Middle English ''elite'' “bishop-elect” had died out.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1176 – ''A vostre eslite'' in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 14th century – “The best”, in Christine de Pisan.^(TLFi)

+ * 1641 – ''Troupe d'élite''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1823 – English ''elite''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1844 – ''D'élite'' extended.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1928 – ''Les élites''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1967 – ''Élitisme''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|elite]], the best (of a group): ''l'élite de la classe'', ''l'élite intellectuelle''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(plural)'' The elites, the leading people: ''les élites locales''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''D'élite'': elite, crack, first-rate: ''tireur d'élite'', ''troupes d'élite''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(Switzerland, military)'' The first levy (men aged 20 to 32).^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[élitisme]]

+ * [[élitiste]]

+ * [[élitaire]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[élire]]

+ * [[élu]]

+ * [[la|ēligō]]

+ * [[en|elite]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}