arabe French · revision 17667

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=ar عرب}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.ʁab/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''arabe''' (plural arabes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|arrabit]], [[m|fro|arabi]] (about 1100); ''arabe'' from 1564.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a remodelling, after [[la|arabus]], of the old form [[m|fro|arrabit]], which perhaps came straight from [[ar|عربي|tr=ʿarabī]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Latin word, a variant of [[m|la|Arabs]], comes from [[grc|Ἄραψ|tr=Áraps]], borrowed from Arabic, where it perhaps meant “nomad living in tents”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|19, 9a) Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing of the Latin noun.^(Wiktionary) The older adjective [[arabique]] (12th century) has the same origin.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) has ''arrabit'', a noun; the form ''arabe'' is first found in 1564.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first the word referred only to Arabia; it was then applied to the peoples from Arabia who, with Islam, settled in Egypt, North Africa, the Near East and Spain.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) It occurs in fixed phrases such as ''chiffres arabes'', as opposed to Roman numerals.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ It had figurative, often pejorative uses reflecting social images: from the 17th to the 19th century ''un arabe'' meant a grasping usurer, as in Molière's ''sois arabe, corsaire''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi) In popular modern French, after the colonization of North Africa in the 19th century, ''arabe'' came to mean “North African”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Arrabit'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 12th century – The adjective ''arabique''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1564 – ''Arabe'', in Jean Thierry.^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 17th century – ''Un arabe'' “a usurer”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 19th century – “North African” in popular use.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|Arab]], [[m|en|Arabian]], of Arabia or of the Arab peoples: ''le monde arabe'', ''les pays arabes''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|Arabic]], of the Arabic language: ''la langue arabe'', ''chiffres arabes'', Arabic numerals.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Cheval arabe'': an Arabian horse.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''Arabe'': an Arab, a person of the Arab peoples.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''L'arabe'': the Arabic language.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(classical, familiar)'' A hard, grasping man, a usurer.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[arabique]]

+ * [[ar|عربي|tr=ʿarabī]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}