Doublets in the Language of Rabelais

Abstract

The first notable incursion into French of learned doublets which bear the mark of individual inventiveness appears in the writings of two fourteenth century humanists, Pierre Bersuire and Nicole Oresme. Fourteen doublets first employed by Bersuire in his translation of Livy (1362) have survived; seventeen found in Oresme's translations of Latin versions of Aristotle (1375) are still in current use. The rapid expansion of the French vocabulary in the Middle French period may be indicated by the fact that more than one hundred additional doublet forms (approximately one-fifth of the total number found in modern French) entered the language during this time.1 Keeping pace with the gradual increase in the number of translations from the Latin, the development of the vulgar language in the direction of precision and elegance was accomplished almost entirely by accretions from the parent speech. With the Renaissance, new sources of enrichment were provided by the growth in knowledge of languages other than Latin, principally Greek and Italian. The effect of this linguistic conquest was immediately reflected in the first great literary achievement of the French Renaissance, Gargantua and Pantagruel. In his study of the language of Rabelais, M. Sain6an states that 'Rabelais est le plus grand forgeron du verbe, v6ritable cr6ateur de formes et de sens qui ont fait fortune.'2 If the conclusions of this eminent authority required substantiation, this might be adduced from the relative proportion of doublets which Rabelais contributed to the permanent composition of his language. Investigation reveals no less than forty-four doublet forms of current usage recorded for the first time in his writings. This is a total unequalled, in all probability, by any other French writer.