moral French · revision 38606

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1212, Frère Angier|origins=la mōs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /mɔ.ʁal/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''moral''' ''m'' (plural moraux)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|mōrālis|t=relating to manners or customs]], a word specialised in scholastic Latin, derived from [[m|la|mōs|t=custom, manner]], used in the plural for “morals”.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The same Latin noun is the source of [[mœurs]].^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In 1212 Frère Angier names Gregory the Great's commentary on Job ''li Moral''; the adjective appears in Brunetto Latini's ''Tresor'' (1270) in ''vertu morale'', a virtue guided by the light of reason.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adjective then qualified what concerns or conforms to morals (Oresme, 1370–1372), and the philosophical study of them, ''philosophie morale'' (1403, Eustache Deschamps).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Only in the classical period did it take the practical sense “conforming to good morals” (Académie, 1694) and “of good morals” (1764).^(DHLF 1992) The 17th and 18th centuries added “founded on opinion or belief rather than strict proof” (1694), now dated, and, in the contrast of mind and matter, “relating to the mind” (Diderot, 1746).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ As a masculine noun, ''le moral'' was the whole of the mental faculties (Diderot, 1752), surviving in ''au moral'' as opposed to ''au physique''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The sense “ethics” (1775) has aged, and today ''le moral'' is the state of mind that lets one bear difficulties (Las Cases, 1823), with ''avoir bon moral'', ''avoir le moral à zéro'' and similar phrases.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The feminine noun [[morale]] was abstracted from ''philosophie morale'' in 1637.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1212 – ''Li Moral'', title of Gregory's ''Moralia'', in Frère Angier.^(TLFi)

+ * 1270 – ''Vertu morale'' in Brunetto Latini.^(TLFi)

+ * 1370–1372 – “Conforming to morals” in Oresme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1403 – ''Philosophie morale'' in Eustache Deschamps.^(TLFi)

+ * 1694 – The Académie records “founded on opinion, not on fact”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1746 – “Relating to the mind” in Diderot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1752 – The noun ''le moral'', the mental faculties.^(TLFi)

+ * 1823 – ''Le moral'', morale, in Las Cases.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Relating to [[m|en|morals]], to the rules of conduct accepted in a society: ''sens moral'', the sense of right and wrong.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # Relating to the philosophical study of morality, [[m|en|ethical]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # In keeping with accepted morals; [[m|en|edifying]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # Relating to the mind or spirit, as opposed to the physical: ''douleur morale''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(law)'' ''Personne morale'': a legal person, an incorporeal entity.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The mental faculties, the psyche: ''au physique et au moral''.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # [[m|en|morale|alt=Morale]]: the state of mind that lets one face difficulties: ''avoir le moral'', ''remonter le moral à quelqu'un''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[moralement]]

+ * [[moraliser]]

+ * [[moraliste]]

+ * [[moralisme]]

+ * [[amoral]]

+ * [[immoral]]

+ * [[immoraliste]]

+ * [[démoraliser]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mœurs]]

+ * [[morale]]

+ * [[moralité]]

+ * [[la|mōrālis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}