“
Proud
.
Cruel, tyrant.
He is a proud enemy to say a dangerous enemy
”, comments Furetière in his Universal Dictionary published in 1690. Certainly, those who are proud as a peacock shows a somewhat disproportionate pride.
But from there to making a despot!
In fact, the proud has not been fierce since the 18th century.
It is even so little used in the sense that our contemporary dictionaries specify that its use is old and rare.
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What is the origin of the word proud?
However, any proud famous of yesterday is, by definition, "
fierce
", whether a proud Scotsman, a proud Sicambre or proud like Artaban.
From the classical Latin ferus, the proud means, in fact, originally, "
savage, fierce, cruel
".
So it is in the 12th century, taken from the Chanson de Roland, of the hero perceiving "
that there will be battle
", and in doing so, is revealed "
more proud than lion or leopard
".
Isn't it, in fact, characteristic of said animals to be proud?
In fact, from the Middle Ages, the adjective also qualifies someone proud,
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