“
Terrific.
Who is scary, who is to be feared.
The judgments of God are formidable
”, affirms Furetière in his Universal Dictionary published in 1690. We are far from the indisputable attraction of the daisy, of Aznavour.
Remember: “
You are the one for me, for me, formidable… My daisy, daisy, desirable.
"And much more of the ideal of a dual love according to Stromae:"
You were wonderful, I was very shabby ...
"
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What is the origin of the word formidable?
However, opening the dictionaries of today is still stumbling upon this first meaning, formidable presented first of all as relating to what formerly was "
to be feared
", "
dangerous
" or even "
of a terrifying aspect
" .
In fact, this somewhat frightening meaning seems to have, so to speak, disappeared from common use during the first half of the 20th century.
The adjective thus defined had a good life, however.
From the Latin formidabilis, itself coming from formidare (to fear) and formido (fear), the word formidable would originally designate "
the sweat of
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