obscur French · revision 38621

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 11th century, Chanson de Guillaume|origins=la obscūrus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɔp.skyʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''obscur''' (feminine obscure, masculine plural obscurs, feminine plural obscures)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|oscur]] (late 11th century), [[m|fro|obscur]] from the 12th century;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) ''oscur'' remained the usual form until the 16th century and is still found in Ronsard.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) Anglo-Norman also had [[m|xno|escur]] and [[m|xno|ouscur]].^(AND)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|obscūrus|t=dark, gloomy; hard to understand; unknown; hidden, secret]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|7, 281a) It was first written [[m|fro|oscur]], with the Latin ⟨b⟩ restored in the 12th century;^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Wiktionary instead treats the word as inherited through Old French, the ⟨b⟩ coming from a learned relatinisation in Middle French.^(Wiktionary) In the 16th century it was still pronounced ⟨oscur⟩, according to Théodore de Bèze.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The Latin word has no clear analysis;^(DHLF 1992) Rey reports a proposal that it contains an element [[m|la|*-scūrus]] related to words for shade and cover, such as [[non|skuggi|t=shadow]], [[goh|scuwo|t=shadow]] and, through Norse, [[en|sky]].^(DHLF 1992) Littré connected the same conjectured element with [[la|scūtum|t=shield]], so that the word would mean “covering all round”.^(Littré 1873) Its semantic opposite in Latin was [[m|la|clārus]], the source of [[clair]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found at the end of the 11th century in the ''Chanson de Guillaume'', spelled ''oscur'', meaning “without light, dark”.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) The TLFi's first record of this sense is in the ''Roman d'Eneas'' (about 1160).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French the adjective was already used as a noun, ''l'oscur'', for darkness (1160–1174, Wace), and of a dark colour (about 1165, Benoît de Sainte-Maure); in the colour sense it lost ground to [[sombre]] and [[foncé]] after the 17th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) As a painters' term ''l'obscur'' is the dark part of a picture (1690, Furetière), as in [[clair-obscur]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The figurative sense “hard to understand” is as old as the physical one (1160–1174, Wace).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the 16th and 17th centuries the word came to mean “unknown, without renown” (1559, Amyot) and “of humble birth” (1611, Cotgrave), and the Port-Royal ''Logique'' (1662) used it actively of a person who understands poorly, a sense now lost.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Salles obscures'' for cinemas dates from 1917.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 11th century – ''Oscur'' in the ''Chanson de Guillaume''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1160–1174 – Wace uses it of something hard to understand, and as a noun for darkness.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1165 – Of a dark colour, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^(TLFi)

+ * 1213 – The adverb ''obscurément''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1559 – Amyot uses it for “unknown, without renown”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “of humble birth”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – Furetière records ''l'obscur'' as a painting term.^(TLFi)

+ * 1917 – ''Salle obscure''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|dark]], without light or poorly lit: ''un couloir obscur'', ''les salles obscures'', cinemas.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # Dark in colour, dim.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Hard to understand, [[m|en|obscure]]: ''un texte obscur''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Vague, not clearly felt or known: ''un obscur pressentiment''.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # Unknown, without fame; humble: ''un obscur fonctionnaire''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''L'obscur'': darkness; the dark parts of a picture.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[obscurcir]]

+ * [[obscurément]]

+ * [[obscurité]]

+ * [[obscurcissement]]

+ * [[obscurantisme]]

+ * [[clair-obscur]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|obscūrus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}