criminel French · revision 38645

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1080, Chanson de Roland|origins=la crīmen}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kʁi.mi.nɛl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''criminel''' (feminine criminelle, masculine plural criminels, feminine plural criminelles)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|criminal]], [[m|fro|creminal]];^(Wiktionary)^(AND) Littré quotes ''criminal'' and ''crimineux'' from medieval texts.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|criminal]], [[bor|la-lat|crīminālis|t=criminal, as opposed to civil, (Christian Latin) blameworthy]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|2, 1339a) from [[m|la|crīmen|t=charge, accusation; crime]].^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In Christian Latin the adjective was applied to the deadly sins.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Littré lists [[oc|criminal]], [[es|criminal]] and [[it|criminale]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1080) ''la gent criminel'' is the impious people, the pagan enemy.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word came in with both its moral and its legal sides: ''pechiez criminals'' were deadly sins (1174–1176), and ''dreit creminal'', criminal law, appears in Étienne de Fougères about 1174–1178.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the 15th century it could also mean violent, bloody.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ As a noun it was first used of an accused person (1549) and then of someone guilty of a serious crime (1602); ''au criminel'', in criminal proceedings, dates from 1648.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The ''brigade criminelle'' of the police became familiarly ''la Criminelle'', then ''la Crim''', spread by cinema and television from the 1950s.^(DHLF 1992) ''Criminel de guerre'' names someone who has broken the laws of war.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1080 – ''La gent criminel'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1174–1176 – ''Pechiez criminals'' “deadly sins”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1174–1178 – The legal sense, ''dreit creminal''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1539 – The derivative ''criminalité''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – First used as a noun.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1648 – ''Au criminel'', in Guez de Balzac.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|guilty|alt=Guilty]] of a crime or of a grave breach of the law or of morals.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Constituting a crime: ''un incendie criminel'', arson.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(law)'' Relating to crimes and their trial, as opposed to civil: ''droit criminel'', ''procédure criminelle''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(familiar, hyperbolic)'' Very wrong, a shame: ''c'est criminel de gaspiller ce pain''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|criminal]], someone guilty of a crime: ''criminel de guerre'', a war criminal.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Au criminel'': before the criminal courts.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[criminellement]]

+ * [[criminalité]]

+ * [[criminaliser]]

+ * [[criminaliste]]

+ * [[criminalistique]]

+ * [[criminogène]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[crime]]

+ * [[incriminer]]

+ * [[la|crīmen]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}