brave French · revision 38582

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1521|origins=la barbarus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /bʁav/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''brave''' (plural braves)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|it|bravo|t=brave; wild]]: the first French authors to use it wrote under Italian influence.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Bloch and Wartburg, the GLLF and the Grand Robert name both [[m|it|bravo]] and [[es|bravo]] as sources.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Rey thinks the Italian word came from [[pro|brau|t=wild]] rather than from Spanish; the Provençal word, like [[ca|brau]], [[pt|bravo]] and the Spanish one, probably descends from [[la|barbarus|t=barbarian]], which also meant “wild, fierce” of animals and “wild, untilled” of plants and land.^(DHLF 1992) The sound change, proposed by Jules Cornu, ran through [[m|la-vul|*barbru]] and [[m|la-vul|*babru]] to [[m|la-vul|*brabu]];^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg write it as [[m|la-vul|*brabus]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Menéndez Pidal proposed [[la|prāvus|t=crooked, bad]] instead, but Rey takes the Leonese Latin forms on which he relied to be false Latinisations of the Spanish word, which is very old in the Iberian Peninsula.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Its doublet is [[bravo]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Rey's first record (before 1521) and the Grand Robert's (1521) are a noun meaning an Italian hired swordsman, after Italian ''bravo'' “henchman”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF date the word to the 14th century, the GLLF to Jean de Brie (1379).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1535 the adjective spread with the range of its Italian model: “handsome”, “proud, arrogant” (1541), “good”, “noble” (before 1544) and “courageous” (1549), meanings it kept until the 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) “Courageous” then became the main sense in standard French, while “good, honest in a simple way” survived (1704), above all before the noun: ''un brave homme'', ''de braves gens''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) The sense “handsome, well dressed” lives on in regional French, especially in Provence under the influence of Provençal and Italian;^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) in Luxembourg French a ''brave'' child is a well-behaved one.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The verb [[braver]] was formed on it about 1515, after Italian ''bravare'';^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''bravement'' (1465) had the old senses too, but only “courageously” survives.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1379 – The GLLF's first record, in Jean de Brie.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1465 – The adverb ''bravement''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1515 – The verb ''braver''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1521 – ''Brave'' as a noun, “Italian hired swordsman”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1535 – The adjective begins to spread.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1549 – First record of the sense “courageous”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1704 – The sense “good, honest” is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|courageous|alt=Courageous]], [[m|en|valiant]] in the face of danger (usually after the noun): ''un soldat brave''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # (before the noun) Good and honest in a simple way, kind and obliging; [[m|en|decent]]: ''un brave homme'', ''de braves gens''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(dated or regional)'' Handsome, well dressed.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A brave person: ''se battre en brave'', ''la paix des braves''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[braver]]

+ * [[bravement]]

+ * [[braverie]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bravo]]

+ * [[bravade]]

+ * [[bravoure]]

+ * [[barbare]]

+ * [[la|barbarus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}