noble French · revision 38672

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=la nōscō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /nɔbl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''noble''' (plural nobles)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older Old French [[m|fro|nobilie]] (1080) and [[m|fro|nobile]] (1135), which ''noble'' displaced.^(DHLF 1992) The ''Chanson de Roland'' has both ''noble'' and ''nobile''.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|nōbilis|t=knowable; well known, famous; well-born]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|7, 157b) The older Old French [[m|fro|nobilie]] was a semi-learned form, from a Latin variant [[m|la|*nobilius]] or from the Latin adjective with its stress shifted in Gallo-Romance.^(DHLF 1992) The Latin adjective is derived from [[m|la|nōscō|t=to get to know]], the base of [[m|la|cognōscō]] and so of [[connaître]];^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) Littré compared [[m|la|ignōbilis]] and [[sa|ज्ञा|tr=jñā|t=to know]].^(Littré 1873) The sense “of high birth” in French follows Medieval Latin, where the word was used of the hereditary aristocracy of the Germanic peoples and then of the feudal nobility.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ Cognate with [[ro|nobil]], [[it|nobile]], [[oc|noble]], [[ca|noble]], [[es|noble]] and [[pt|nobre]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'', where the bride chosen for the saint is ''filie d'un noble Franc'', with the sense “superior in worth or merit”;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) has ''Noble baron ad ci!''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The qualitative sense came first: of people, of a horse (1160–1174, Wace), of things such as ''noble chevalerie'' (about 1165), of the body's vital organs (1314, ''membre noble''), and of a science (1370–1372, Oresme).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From the 17th century it was used of a lofty style and of the higher literary genres, as opposed to ''bas'' (1674, Boileau).^(DHLF 1992) In ''Renart'' (about 1179) ''Noble'' is the name of the lion, the king of the beasts.^(TLFi)

+

+ The social sense, “belonging to the nobility”, appears in a Cambrai charter of 1216, and the noun ''les nobles'' in 1369–1372.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It spread to things owned by nobles, such as ''héritage noble'' (1495).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) In this sense the word took the place of [[gentil]], [[haut]] and [[franc]].^(Petit Robert 2007) Today ''le noble art'', after English, is boxing, and advertising makes much of ''matériaux nobles''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) English borrowed the adjective in the 13th century, and German took it as [[m|de|nobel]] in the 17th.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – First record, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1080 – The older form ''nobilie''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1179 – ''Noble'' the lion in the ''Roman de Renart''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1216 – “Of the nobility”, in a Cambrai charter.^(TLFi)

+ * 1314 – ''Membre noble'', in Henri de Mondeville.^(TLFi)

+ * 1360 – The English gold coin called a noble.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1369–1372 – ''Les nobles'' as a noun.^(TLFi)

+ * 1674 – Of style, in Boileau.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Belonging to the [[m|en|nobility]] by birth or ennoblement: ''une famille noble''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # Of or proper to the nobility: ''terre noble''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ # Of great moral worth, [[m|en|generous]], [[m|en|high-minded]]: ''une âme noble'', ''de nobles sentiments''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Commanding respect by its dignity or bearing, [[m|en|stately]]: ''un air noble''.^(Le Robert)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Of a style or genre: elevated, lofty.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Of materials: natural and fine, not synthetic: ''matériaux nobles''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(chemistry)'' ''Gaz noble'', a noble gas, ''métaux nobles'', precious metals.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Le noble art'': boxing.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|nobleman]] or noblewoman: ''les nobles et les roturiers''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Le noble'': what is noble, grand or majestic.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[noblement]]

+ * [[noblesse]]

+ * [[nobliau]]

+ * [[noblaillon]]

+ * [[anoblir]]

+ * [[ennoblir]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ignoble]]

+ * [[nobiliaire]]

+ * [[connaître]]

+ * [[la|nōbilis]]

+ * [[en|noble]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Noble'' was also the name of an English gold coin first struck by Edward III about 1340–1343;^(DHLF 1992) French borrowed it in 1360, first in the south-west under English rule.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}