horreur French · revision 16783

− It is [[bor|la|horror|t=bristling; shuddering; dread; religious awe]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|4, 488a) derived from [[m|la|horreō|t=to bristle; to shudder]] (see [[horripiler]]), of obscure origin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Wiktionary notes that the reason for the feminine gender is unclear, Littré mentions a 16th-century attempt to make it masculine like other nouns with that ending.^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)