curieux French · revision 16771

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=first half of the 12th century, Oxford Psalter (curius)|origins=la cūra}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ky.ʁjø/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''curieux''' (feminine curieuse, masculine plural curieux, feminine plural curieuses)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''curius'' (about 1120); feminine ''curieuse''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|cūriōsus|t=careful; eager to know; prying]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|2, 1564b)^(Wiktionary) derived through a spoken form [[m|la|*cūrius]] from [[m|la|cūra|t=care, concern]] (see [[cure]]), which could not directly have given this form.^(DHLF 1992) The Latin adjective, literally “taking care”, came to mean “eager to know, inquisitive”, and in imperial Latin it was used as a noun for a spy.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Compare [[pro|curios]], [[es|curioso]] and [[it|curioso]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Oxford Psalter'' (first half of the 12th century) has ''curius de'' “caring for, attentive to”; the ''Chanson de Roland'' already has ''li Franceis dolent et curius'', “the French grieving and anxious”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 17th century the sense followed that of Latin ''cura'': a person who takes care over something, whence the classical ''un soin curieux''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) From 1538 (Robert Estienne) it describes a person eager to see and know, and with [[curiosité]] it took on a negative moral value that the moralists of the 17th century stressed: as a noun (Amyot, 1594) it is close to “indiscreet”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The collector of rare objects (Nicot, 1606; noun 1662) suffered the same disapproval.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Only in the 18th century did it gain a favourable value, disinterested inquiry; today both coexist.^(DHLF 1992) The passive sense “worth attention, odd, strange” (Amyot, 1559) is shown by putting the adjective first, ''un curieux personnage'', except in ''bête curieuse'' (Rousseau, 1755).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In 19th-century slang ''le curieux'' was the police commissioner (1828) or the examining magistrate.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * First half of the 12th century – ''Curius de'' “caring for”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1155 – ''Curius de'' “eager for”, Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – “Eager to know”, Robert Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – “Odd, remarkable”, Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1594 – Noun “busybody”, Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1606 – A collector of rarities, Nicot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1755 – ''Bête curieuse'', Rousseau.^(TLFi)

+ * 1828 – Slang “examining magistrate”, Vidocq.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|curious]], eager to know: ''curieux d'apprendre'', ''je serais curieux de savoir''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Inquisitive, prying, nosy.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(before the noun or impersonal)'' Odd, strange, [[m|en|peculiar]]: ''un curieux personnage''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(classical)'' Careful, attentive.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An onlooker, a [[m|en|bystander]], rubbernecker.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(dated)'' A collector of curios, ''(old slang)'' an examining magistrate.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[curieusement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[curiosité]]

+ * [[cure]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}