policier French · revision 38664

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1611, Cotgrave|origins=grc πόλις}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pɔ.li.sje/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''policier''' (feminine policière, masculine plural policiers, feminine plural policières)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|police|-ier]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|9, 130b) That noun was borrowed in the 14th century from [[la-lat|politia|t=organisation of a state, administration]], from [[grc|πολιτεία|tr=politeía|t=citizenship; government]], itself from [[m|grc|πόλις|tr=pólis|t=city]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The adjective first followed the noun's old sense “government of a city”; the modern word was formed again after its later sense “force keeping public order”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cotgrave records it in 1611, in an isolated use, meaning “concerning the administration or government of a town or territory”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun for a member of the police it appears in 1753 in Fougeret de Monbron's ''Le Cosmopolite'', and was long a familiar and disparaging term, as Littré notes.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) The adjective took the sense “concerning the police” in 1836 and “belonging to the police” in 1898.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ''Roman policier'' (1908, Gaston Leroux), which followed English ''detective novel'', established itself only after other names such as ''roman judiciaire''; elliptically, ''un policier'' is a detective novel (1949), clipped in slang to [[polar]] (1970).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Chien policier'' dates from 1911, and ''État policier'' and ''régime policier'' describe a state that relies on its police.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1611 – Cotgrave records the adjective in the old sense of ''police''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1753 – The noun “member of the police”, in Fougeret de Monbron.^(TLFi)

+ * 1836 – “Concerning the police”.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1898 – “Belonging to the police”, in Jean Lorrain.^(TLFi)

+ * 1908 – ''Roman policier'', in Gaston Leroux.^(TLFi)

+ * 1911 – ''Chien policier''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1949 – ''Un policier'' “a detective novel”, in Marcel Aymé.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Relating to or belonging to the [[m|en|police]]: ''une enquête policière'', ''une bavure policière'', ''chien policier'', a police dog, ''État policier'', a police state.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # Of fiction or films about a crime and its [[m|en|investigation]]: ''roman policier'', ''film policier''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A police [[m|en|officer]]; the feminine is ''policière'', or ''policier'' for a woman.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|detective]] novel or film.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[polar]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[police]]

+ * [[policer]]

+ * [[policé]]

+ * [[policeman]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}