fameux French · revision 38627

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=early 14th century, Aimé du Mont-Cassin|origins=la fāma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /fa.mø/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fameux''' (feminine fameuse, masculine plural fameux, feminine plural fameuses)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|fāmōsus|t=well known, renowned; notorious]], from [[m|la|fāma|t=report, reputation]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 409a) The TLFi and Rey date the borrowing to the early 14th century, in the form [[m|fro|famose]];^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert give the 15th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Littré notes that the word has no circumflex because its ⟨a⟩ is short, although some provinces nevertheless pronounced it long.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Compare [[pro|famos]], [[es|famoso]] and [[it|famoso]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in a ''famose cité'', a famous city, in the French version of Aimé du Mont-Cassin's history of the Normans (early 14th century).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Like the Latin word, ''fameux'' was used of renown both good and bad, a sense now literary.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) From 1730, in Marivaux, it came to mean “remarkable of its kind”, very good or very bad depending on the noun, as in a ''fameuse canaille''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) The sense “excellent” is found in Balzac (1846) and in a dictionary of 1835;^(BHVF)^(TLFi) Littré still labelled it popular.^(Littré 1873) Placed before the noun, the adjective is also used ironically of something much talked about (end of the 19th century, Daudet).^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ The adverb [[fameusement]] (1642) now survives only as a familiar intensive, “very” (1834).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 14th century – ''Famose cité'' in Aimé du Mont-Cassin.^(TLFi)

+ * 15th century – The date of the borrowing in Bloch and Wartburg.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1642 – The adverb ''fameusement''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1730 – Marivaux uses it for “remarkable of its kind”.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1835 – “Excellent”, in Platt's dictionary.^(BHVF)

+ * End of the 19th century – Ironic use before the noun, in Daudet.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(literary)'' [[m|en|famous]], having a great reputation, good or bad: ''une région fameuse pour ses vins''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(before the noun, ironic)'' Much talked about: ''ta fameuse méthode ne marche pas''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(before the noun)'' Remarkable of its kind, very good or very bad: ''une fameuse erreur''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(familiar)'' Very good, [[m|en|excellent]], especially of food or drink.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873) ''Pas fameux'': not very good, [[m|en|mediocre]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fameusement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[famé]]

+ * [[la|fāmōsus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}