folie French · revision 16796

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=la follis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fɔ.li/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''folie''' ''f'' (plural folies)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fro|fol|-ie]], from the old form of the adjective [[fou]] (see also [[fol]] and [[folle]]).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|3, 689b) The adjective continues [[la|follis|t=bellows; bag; ball]]: by a joke, a foolish person was compared with a ball blown full of air, a change of sense complete by the 6th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Old French also said [[m|fro|folage]] and [[m|fro|folor]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Compare [[pro|folia]] and [[it|follia]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) has ''dire folie'' and ''oïr folie'', foolish talk: ''Guenes a dit folie'', “Ganelon has spoken folly”, and ''vasselage par sens n'est pas folie'', “valour with good sense is no folly”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the start it covered both madness and folly; the GLLF dates the medical sense, a serious mental disorder, to the ''Chanson de Roland'' as well, and the ''Laws of William the Conqueror'' use it for a foolish act.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) The Châtelain de Coucy (late 12th century) has it for the folly of love, and ''c'est folie de'' is found in the 13th century.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Nineteenth-century psychiatry named forms such as ''folie circulaire'' (1865), and ''la folie des grandeurs'', megalomania, is of the 20th century; modern psychiatry speaks rather of mental illness.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Dire folie'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 12th century – The folly of love, Châtelain de Coucy.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 13th century – ''C'est folie de''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1690 – ''Folie'' “country house”, Furetière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1865 – ''Folie circulaire'', Littré.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|madness]], [[m|en|insanity]]: ''accès de folie'', ''folie furieuse'', ''folie des grandeurs'', megalomania.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # [[m|en|folly]], foolishness; lack of judgment: ''c'est folie de…''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A foolish act; an extravagance: ''faire des folies'', to splash out.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A wild passion for something.^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(architecture)'' A folly, an extravagant pleasure house.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fou]]

+ * [[folle]]

+ * [[fol]]

+ * [[folâtre]]

+ * [[affoler]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Folie'' “luxurious country house” (Furetière, 1690), found in place names from 1185 (''La Folie''), is probably a separate word: an alteration, after ''folie'' “madness”, of [[feuillée]] “bower of leaves, hut”, which had Picard forms in ''-ie''; folk etymology explained it by the idea of an extravagant expense.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}