peuple French · revision 17199

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=842, Serments de Strasbourg (poblo)|origins=la populus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pœpl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''peuple''' ''m'' (plural peuples)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Poblo'' (842), ''pople'' (about 980), ''pueble'', ''pueple'' (about 1135); ''peuple'' from the 13th–15th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|populus|t=people of a state or city; the citizens; people, the public]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|9, 178a) The Old French “pueble” became “pueple” and “peuple” by assimilation of the inner /b/ to the initial /p/; because the word stayed in contact with Latin, “populus” probably helped to remake it.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) Rey calls “populus” a reduplicated form of unknown root, perhaps borrowed from Etruscan (compare the town name Populonia), and notes that it has nothing to do with “pōpulus” “poplar” (see [[peuplier]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Compare [[ro|popor]], [[oc|poble]], [[ca|poble]] and [[pt|povo]]; [[es|pueblo]] is a popular form and [[it|popolo]] a learned one.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Strasbourg Oaths (842) speak of ''christian poblo'', the Christian people, the community of those living together under common customs and institutions.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At the end of the 10th century it meant the population of a place, a sense later taken over by ''population'', and, from about 1135 mankind.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It named the nation as a whole and also the governed part of it, the subjects of a sovereign (''mes peuples''), a use that lapsed with the Revolution of 1789.^(DHLF 1992) A crowd or audience was ''peuple'' about 1155; it survives in ''se moquer du peuple'' (1793).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The ''grant pueple et li menus'' of Gautier de Coinci (about 1225) marks the division between great and small, and ''le menu peuple'' is in Amyot.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) The adjective ''peuple'' “common, vulgar” is in Guez de Balzac (before 1654).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 842 – ''Poblo'', Strasbourg Oaths.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 10th century – The population of a place, ''Passion'' of Clermont.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1135 – ''Pueple'' “mankind”, ''Couronnement de Louis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 12th century – ''Peupler''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1225 – ''Li grans pueples et li menus'', Gautier de Coinci.^(TLFi)

+ * 1564 – ''Peuplade''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * Before 1654 – Adjective “common”, Guez de Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1679 – Of animals, La Fontaine.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|people]], a nation, a community sharing customs and institutions: ''le peuple français'', ''le droit des peuples à disposer d'eux-mêmes'', ''le peuple élu''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Le peuple'': the body of citizens of a state: ''la souveraineté du peuple''.^(Littré 1873)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Le peuple'': the common people, the lower classes: ''un homme du peuple''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A crowd, a lot of people: ''il y a du peuple'', ''se moquer du peuple''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(invariable)'' Common, [[m|en|vulgar]]: ''ça fait peuple''.^(Larousse)^(Le Robert)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[peupler]]

+ * [[peuplement]]

+ * [[peuplade]]

+ * [[dépeupler]]

+ * [[repeupler]]

+ * [[surpeupler]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[populaire]]

+ * [[populariser]]

+ * [[popularité]]

+ * [[population]]

+ * [[populace]]

+ * [[la|populus]]

+ * [[en|people]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}