Where does the word "nice" come from?
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“
Nice.
Payen.
This is how the Jews called all those who were not of their religion
”, it is specified in 1690 in the Universal Dictionary, the use of the imperfect being to be noted.
It is a fact for Furetière: the good pagan belongs to the past.
Read also: Aperitif, a word that has totally changed meaning
Or at least that is the opinion of the lexicographer of the Grand Siècle.
Because, if it is not very much alive any more, except perhaps in literature, with Hugo, Chateaubriand or Claudel, the word certainly still has its place in our contemporary dictionaries.
In fact, when the Treasury of the French language was opened, completed in 1993, the first article given to the word gentil remains the “
person foreign to the Jewish religion
”.
A second article concerns the adjective, which is still very common, designating the particularly appreciable character of a person.
Do not assimilate the noun and the adjective
In reality, the error would be to assimilate the original name and adjective into French.
On the substantive side, the "
gentile
" is therefore the name given by the Jews and the first Christians to the pagans.
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