pauvre French · revision 17404

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (povre)|origins=la pauper}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /povʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pauvre''' (plural pauvres)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|povre]], also ''poure'' (the manuscripts do not show whether ⟨u⟩ stood for /v/); the spelling ''pauvre'' restored Latin ⟨au⟩ and replaced ''povre'' in the 16th century.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|povre]], [[inh|la|pauper|t=poor, needy]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|8, 56b) The Latin word is probably to be analysed as “pau-per-os” “producing little”, said first of land and livestock; it belongs with [[m|la|paucus|t=few]] (see [[peu]]) and [[m|la|paulus|t=small]], and is compared with [[grc|παῦρος|tr=paûros|t=small, few]] and [[got|𐍆𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌹|tr=fawai|t=few]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary) REW derives the French and Italian forms from a variant feminine [[la|paupera]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ The form “pauvre” is a learned respelling: it appears in a manuscript after 1480, is general in Rabelais and the Pléiade, and yet Henri Estienne still gave “povre” as the normal form in 1579.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|povero]], [[oc|paubre]], [[es|pobre]] and [[pt|pobre]].^(Littré 1873)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' as ''povre'', both as an adjective “needy, lacking material goods” and as a noun “a poor person”; the same text uses it of a thing “fit for a poor man, wretched”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the 12th century it qualified things of little worth or strength, “paltry” (1176–1181, Chrétien de Troyes) and “unimportant” (1188).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Povre de'' “lacking in” is recorded in 1190 and ''pauvre en'' in 1671; it was applied to language by Du Bellay (''langue pauvre'', 1549) and to rhyme in 1615.^(TLFi)

+

+ Placed before the noun it expressed pity (15th century), then a condescending affection in ''le povre homme !'' (the ''Farce de Maître Pathelin'', 1461–1469) and contempt in ''pauvre type'', ''mon pauvre'' as a term of affection is found from the early 17th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) The biblical ''pauvres d'esprit'' (1553), “the poor in spirit”, came to mean simpletons (1690, Furetière).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) As a noun, ''pauvre'' now suggests real destitution, and euphemisms are often preferred, ''nouveaux pauvres'' (1968) named those made poor by unemployment.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Povre'', adjective and noun, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1176–1181 – “Paltry, pitiable”, in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1461–1469 – ''Le povre homme !'' in the ''Farce de Maître Pathelin''.^(TLFi)

+ * After 1480 – The spelling ''pauvre'' appears.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – ''Langue pauvre'' in Du Bellay.^(TLFi)

+ * 1553 – ''Les povres d'esprit'' in a Bible translation.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – ''Pauvre d'esprit'' “simpleton”, in Furetière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1968 – ''Nouveaux pauvres''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(after the noun)'' [[m|en|poor]], lacking money or the necessities of life.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(of a place)'' Inhabited mostly by the poor: ''un quartier pauvre''.^(Larousse)

+ # Looking poor, [[m|en|meagre]]: ''une décoration pauvre''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Pauvre en'': having little of: ''un régime pauvre en calories''.^(Larousse)

+ # Lacking its proper elements, [[m|en|scanty]]: ''une langue pauvre'', ''une rime pauvre''.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(before the noun)'' Pitiable, [[m|en|wretched]]: ''le pauvre homme''; also of the dead: ''mon pauvre père''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(before the noun, derogatory)'' Contemptible: ''pauvre type'', ''pauvre imbécile''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A poor person, a [[m|en|pauper]]: ''les pauvres''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Pauvre d'esprit'': a [[m|en|simpleton]]; in the Gospel, the humble in spirit.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[appauvrir]]

+ * [[pauvreté]]

+ * [[pauvret]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[paupérisation]]

+ * [[pauvresse]]

+ * [[pauvrement]]

+ * [[paupérisme]]

+ * [[peu]]

+ * [[la|pauper]]

+ * [[en|poor]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The position changes the sense: ''un homme pauvre'' has no money, ''un pauvre homme'' is to be pitied.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary) As a noun the feminine is usually ''une pauvre'' rather than [[pauvresse]].^(DHLF 1992) The exclamation ''pauvre !'' is used in Provence and Marseille.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}