Do you know doublets? No ? To simplify, we could say that they are a bit like the fraternal twins of the French language. In other words, two words which have exactly the same origin, but whose form and meaning differ, to the point that it is sometimes difficult to guess their relationship.
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To clarify this apparent mystery, you need to know that each term making up these pairs comes from two very different processes. In the first case, the Latin word, transmitted from generation to generation, has undergone a natural evolution from Antiquity to the present day. Auscultare, for example, ended up giving “listen”; coagulate, “curdle”; fugere“flee” ; rigid“stiff” and so on.
In the second case, things did not happen in the same way at all and, to understand it, we have to go back to the Middle Ages. At that time, certain concepts did not yet have equivalents in French. To overcome this difficulty, we then chose to start from the original Latin word (we speak of etymon), which we simply Frenchified at the margin. Let us return to the previous examples: fromauscultare, we created “auscultate”; from coagulate“coagulate”; from of refuge, “run away”; from rigid“rigid”.
Result ? French then found itself with two different terms having the same origin. On my right: the popular word, which had evolved spontaneously since Gallo-Roman times. On my left, scholarly creation, artificially forged. Which therefore gives us “listen” and “auscultate”; “to curdle” and “to coagulate”; “flee” and “run away”; “stiff” and rigid”. This is what we call lexical “doublets”.
You will no doubt have noticed: scholarly terms are always closer to the ancient etymon than their “natural” cousins, and this is quite logical since the former were modeled on the Latin root while the latter were transformed freely for centuries. You will also have noticed: each of the two terms ended up specializing over time. Otherwise, Karl Marx would perhaps have denounced his famous book Livestock and no Capital, both heirs of capitalis…
This The process was found to be so effective that it continued to be used throughout the following centuries. Thus, Latin strictuswhich had resulted in “narrow”, would give rise to “strict” in the 18th century. The same goes for aquarium which, after having evolved into a “sink”, will be taken up as is in the 19th century to accompany the development of zoology. And so many others! According to linguists, these famous doublets number in the hundreds.
In many cases, they brought simple nuances to the French language: “geigner” and “gémir” (gemere) ; “chew” and “chew” (masticare); “molt” and “mutate” (change) ; “porch” and portico” (porticus) ; “recover” and “recover” (recover)…
Sometimes, on the contrary, the meanings are clearly distinct: “thing” and “cause” (causa) ; “hotel” and “hospital” (hospitalis) ; “sheath” and “vagina” (vagina) ; “deliver” and “liberate” (liberate) ; “profession” and “ministry” (ministerium); “naive” and “native” (nativus) ; “word” and “parable” (parabola) ; “to weigh” and “to think” (think) ; “reason” and “ration” (ratio) ; “respite” and “respect” (respectus). Let us also cite examples as astonishing as “almond” and “amygdala” (amygdala); “swarm” and “examination” (exam); “stem” and “tibia” (tibia) or “toe” and “article” (articulum). Stunning, but true: I give you my parable!
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Source : Historical dictionary of the French language. Editions Le Robert.
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