affreux French · revision 17631

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1500|origins=got *aifrs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.fʁø/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''affreux''' (feminine affreuse, masculine plural affreux, feminine plural affreuses)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|affres|-eux]], from the noun for terror, now used only in the plural.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg think the noun (1460) probably came from Old Occitan [[m|pro|afre|t=horror]], which, like the Tuscan dialect [[m|it|afro|t=sour, harsh]], represents [[got|*aifrs|t=terrible]], reconstructed from [[goh|eivar]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935)^(FEW|15/1, 10a)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1500; before 1520 it describes a wild landscape, and the modern sense is recorded in 1539.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Ronsard ''affreuse'' means dishevelled, in disorder.^(Littré 1873) The word has covered every degree of horror and painful dread, from what causes fear and disgust (''un crime affreux'') to what is extremely ugly and, by exaggeration, merely very unpleasant (''un temps affreux'').^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) About 1960 ''un affreux'' named a white mercenary serving in an African army.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1460 – The noun ''affre'' “terror”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1500 – ''Affreux''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * Before 1520 – Of a wild landscape.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1539 – The modern sense.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * c. 1960 – ''Un affreux'', a mercenary.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|frightful|alt=Frightful]], horrible, causing terror and disgust: ''un crime affreux''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Extremely ugly, [[m|en|hideous]]: ''elle est affreuse avec cette coiffure''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Very unpleasant, [[m|en|awful]]: ''il fait un temps affreux''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of a person, nasty: ''un affreux bonhomme''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(familiar)'' A nasty person, ''(1960s)'' a white mercenary in Africa.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[affreusement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[affres]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}