minuscule French · revision 38655

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1634|origins=la minor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /mi.nys.kyl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''minuscule''' (plural minuscules)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|minusculus|t=rather small, smallish]], taken to give [[majuscule]] an opposite.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|6/2, 129b) The Latin word is a diminutive of [[m|la|minor|t=smaller, less]], the comparative of [[m|la|parvus|t=small]];^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) the Grand Robert relates it to [[m|la|minus|t=less]].^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1634, in ''lettres minuscules'', for letters smaller than capitals and of a particular shape.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Furetière (1690) records it as a noun, ''une minuscule'', a small letter.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The general sense “very small, tiny” appears only in the 19th century: the TLFi has it from Michelet in 1859, and the GLLF from Larousse in 1874.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The word has given hardly any derivatives: the rare adverb ''minusculement'' and the Goncourts' ''minusculisé''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1634 – ''Lettres minuscules''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – The noun, in Furetière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1859 – “Very small”, in Michelet.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Very small, [[m|en|tiny]]: ''un appartement minuscule''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(of a letter)'' Small, [[m|en|lowercase]], as opposed to capital: ''un b minuscule''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A lowercase letter, a [[m|en|minuscule]]: ''écrire en minuscules''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[majuscule]]

+ * [[moins]]

+ * [[mineur]]

+ * [[la|minusculus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}