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Injury, a word that has totally changed meaning

8/19/2021, 9:23:05 AM


What definition of “insult” is given in our first dictionaries? A meaning very far from that of today ...

“Injury used to mean injustice.

We still say

“This is insulting him”

”, he was recalled as a remark in 1932 in the eighth edition of the

Dictionary of the French Academy

.

Swear there is some etymological explanation below!

To discover

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What is the origin of the word insult?

In fact, injure is borrowed from the Latin

injuria

and in the classical period meant “

injustice, violation of the law, wrong, damage

”.

Without denying its righteousness, the word very early on takes the tangent and will already mean "

insult, hurtful word

 " at the low time in Christian Latin.

Read also Will you be 10/10 on this test on these outdated insults and profanity?

The outrage can then be done orally or in writing, as we read from Molière to Zola, via Stendhal, Racine, Corneille or even Boileau.

For her part, Madame de Sévigné who, as we know, mastered the language wonderfully, knew how to combine the two original nuances of the word in one sentence.

Here it is: “

I warn you, my very dear, that you do not like to read, and that your son takes it from you.

I tell you this insult, to avenge myself

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