crime French · revision 17029

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1165, Livre des Rois (crimne)|origins=la crīmen}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kʁim/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''crime''' ''m'' (plural crimes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''crimne'' (about 1165), ''crimene'' (1174), ''crim'' (14th century).^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|crīmen|t=accusation; crime, offence]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 1339a) The Latin word belongs with [[m|la|cernō|t=to sift; to decide]] and [[m|la|crībrum|t=sieve]]: it must first have meant “what serves to sort, to decide”, then in legal language “judicial decision”, then the charge on which it rests, and by classical times the guilty act itself.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Wiktionary reconstructs [[ine-pro|*kréymn̥]], from “*krey-” “to sieve”.^(Wiktionary) Littré compared [[grc|κρίμα|tr=kríma|t=judgement]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Compare [[it|crimine]], [[oc|crim]], [[es|crimen]] and [[pt|crime]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Livre des Rois'' (about 1165) uses ''crimne'' for a grave breach of morality or law.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Beaumanoir's ''Coutumes de Beauvaisis'' (1283) gives it its narrower legal sense, the gravest kind of offence.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In classical French it was any very grave violation, of morality or of religion (a mortal sin), as in Racine's ''J'ignore de quel crime on a pu me noircir''.^(GLLF 1989) Everyday French uses it above all for murder, and hyperbolically in ''c'est un crime de…'' for an unforgivable mistake.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ''Crime contre l'humanité'' appears in a speech by Anatole France in 1905 before becoming a term of international law.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1165 – ''Crimne'', ''Livre des Rois''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1283 – Legal sense, Beaumanoir.^(TLFi)

+ * 14th century – ''Crim'' in royal ordinances.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1905 – ''Crime contre l'humanité'', Anatole France.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(law)'' A [[m|en|crime]], the most serious class of offence, tried by the ''cour d'assises'': ''crimes, délits et contraventions''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A murder: ''l'arme du crime''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(broadly)'' A grave breach of morality or law: ''crime contre l'humanité'', ''crime de guerre''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(hyperbolic)'' An unforgivable act: ''c'est un crime de gâcher ça''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[criminalité]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[criminel]]

+ * [[incriminer]]

+ * [[récriminer]]

+ * [[la|crīmen]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}