inutile French · revision 16607

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=first half of the 12th century, Psautier d'Oxford (inuteles)|origins=la ūtor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /i.ny.til/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''inutile''' (plural inutiles)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''inutele'' (12th century); ''inutile'' in Bersuire (before 1380).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|inūtilis|t=useless, of no help; harmful]], from [[m|la|in-|t=not]] and [[m|la|ūtilis|t=useful]], from [[m|la|ūtor|t=to use]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|4, 785b)

+

+ Compare [[pro|inutil]], [[es|inútil]] and [[it|inutile]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Psautier d'Oxford'' (first half of the 12th century) translates Psalm 53: ''inuteles fait sunt'' “they have become worthless”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Bersuire's translation of Livy (before 1380) has the modern form.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) Clément Marot (about 1530) applies it to people, and ''il est inutile de…'' is in Bossuet (1669).^(GLLF 1989) As a noun, ''un inutile'', a useless person, is in Regnard (1700), and the military ''bouches inutiles'' (1743) were the people in a besieged town who could not fight.^(TLFi) Ronsard and Desportes still wrote ''inutil'' in the masculine.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * first half of the 12th century – ''Inuteles'', ''Psautier d'Oxford''.^(TLFi)

+ * before 1380 – ''Inutiles'', Bersuire.^(TLFi)

+ * 1669 – ''Il est inutile de'', Bossuet.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1700 – A useless person, Regnard.^(TLFi)

+ * 1743 – ''Les bouches inutiles''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|useless]], serving no purpose: ''des bagages inutiles'', ''une démarche inutile''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Unnecessary, pointless: ''il est inutile d'insister'', ''inutile de vous dire que…''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of no use to others (of a person): ''se sentir inutile''.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A useless person, ''bouches inutiles'', people who cannot fight in a siege.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[inutilement]]

+ * [[inutilité]]

+ * [[inutilisable]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[utile]]

+ * [[la|inūtilis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}