qualité French · revision 17706

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1119, Philippe de Thaon|origins=la quālis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ka.li.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''qualité''' ''f'' (plural qualités)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|quālitās|t=nature, character of a thing]], a word coined by Cicero from [[m|la|quālis|t=of what kind]] to render the philosophers' [[grc|ποιότης|tr=poiótēs]], from [[m|grc|ποῖος|tr=poîos|t=of what kind]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Cicero says so in the Academica, adding that the Greek word was a philosophers' term, not an everyday one.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) Scholastic philosophy passed it on.^(Grand Robert 2005) The early 12th-century Franco-Provençal [[m|frp|qualitaz]] of Albéric de Pisançon is the TLFi's first record.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Philippe de Thaon (about 1119) and Albéric de Pisançon's ''Alexandre'' (early 12th century) use it for the manner of being of a thing.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the 13th century it applied to the good or bad moral disposition of a person, and, from the 17th century (Voiture, 1633) it took the positive sense of a good quality.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Of goods it meant what makes them recommendable (1671), and ''de qualité'' came to mean excellent.^(DHLF 1992) Also from the 13th century it named a person's civil or social rank, then noble birth (Montaigne, 1580), whence ''homme'' or ''personne de qualité'', a noble (1554), now an allusion to the Ancien Régime.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) ''En qualité de'', in the capacity of, dates from 1549, and in law ''qualités'' are the names and titles of the parties to a judgment.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Qualité de la vie'' appeared about 1970.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1119 – In Philippe de Thaon.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 13th century – A person's disposition; social rank.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – ''En qualité de''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1554 – ''Personne de qualité'', a noble.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1633 – A good quality, in Voiture.^(TLFi)

+ * 1671 – Of goods.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1970 – ''Qualité de la vie''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(philosophy)'' A manner of being, an aspect of things that cannot be measured, as opposed to [[quantité|alt=quantity]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ # The degree of excellence of a thing: ''marchandise de bonne, de mauvaise qualité'', ''de qualité'', of high quality: ''préférer la qualité à la quantité''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A good trait of a person; a [[m|en|virtue]].^(Larousse)^(Littré 1873)

+ # Capacity, status: ''en qualité de'', ''avoir qualité pour'', to be entitled to.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(dated)'' Noble birth: ''un homme de qualité''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[qualitatif]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[quel]]

+ * [[qualifier]]

+ * [[la|quālitās]]

+ * [[en|quality]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}