rare French · revision 16755

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1377, Oresme (rare); late 12th century (rere)|origins=la rārus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁaʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ʁɑʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rare''' (plural rares)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|rārus|t=loose, sparse; few; infrequent; exceptional]],^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|10, 75a) a learned remodelling (Oresme, 1377) of the inherited Old French [[m|fro|rer]] or [[m|fro|rere]] (late 12th century), which was limited to Old French.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg note the inherited adverb [[m|fro|rerement]] in the 12th and 13th centuries.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Rey reports a tentative connection of the Latin adjective with [[m|la|ratis|t=raft]], with the idea of an open framework, and a root shared with [[lt|irti|t=to fall apart]], though the link remains vague.^(DHLF 1992) Cognate with [[pro|rar]], [[es|raro]] and [[it|raro]]; the inherited forms are [[it|rado]] and [[es|ralo]].^(Littré 1873)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The inherited ''rere'' appears in the late 12th century in the ''Moralités sur Job'' in the sense “uncommon, remarkable”: ''Mult est rere chose…''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) The learned ''rare'' first appears in Oresme (1377) in the Latin physical sense “not dense, thin”, of water and air.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Gautier de Coinci (about 1225) has ''rere'' for “seldom met with”, and ''rare'' takes that sense in Robert Estienne (1539); from 1504–09 it also means “infrequent” of events.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From the mid-16th century it has the Latin qualitative sense “exceptional” (1553, Olivier de Magny), often with the idea of something precious (''livres rares''), and, from the 17th century a nuance of oddness (1694, ''un homme rare'').^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ By Latinism it took again the sense “not dense” (1555), whence “thin, sparse” of hair or grass (1636).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''Oiseau rare'' (1636) is a calque of Horace's ''rara avis'', used figuratively by La Fontaine (1665).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Chemistry has ''terres rares'' (1898) and ''gaz rares'' (1916), after English.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – ''Rere'' “remarkable”, ''Moralités sur Job''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1377 – ''Rare'' “not dense”, Oresme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1504–09 – “Infrequent”, Jean Lemaire de Belges.^(TLFi)

+ * 1539 – “Seldom found”, Robert Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1544 – The derivative [[rarissime]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1553 – “Of exceptional merit”, Olivier de Magny.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – ''Oiseau rare'' and “sparse”, Monet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1898 – ''Terres rares'' in chemistry.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|rare]]: seldom found, existing in few examples: ''timbres rares'', ''mot rare'', a little-used word, ''oiseau rare'', a rare bird, an exceptional person.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Infrequent: ''ses visites sont rares'', ''il est rare que'', it seldom happens that.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Few in number, scarce.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Exceptional, remarkable: ''d'une rare beauté''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Thin, [[m|en|sparse]]: ''cheveux rares''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(chemistry)'' ''Gaz rares'', the noble gases, ''terres rares'', rare earths.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rarement]]

+ * [[rareté]]

+ * [[rarissime]]

+ * [[raréfier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|rārus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}