Etymograph

English

insouciance

Insouciance comes from French insouciance ‘insouciance, unconcern’, from soucier ‘worrying’, and ultimately from Latin sollicitō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsollicitō
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600soucyer‘to worry’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentsoucieras souciant‘worrying’
  4. French, derivedc. 1600–presentinsouciance‘insouciance, unconcern’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1995same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsollicitō
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600soucyer‘to worry’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentsoucieras souciant‘worrying’
  4. French, derivedc. 1600–presentinsouciance‘insouciance, unconcern’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1995same form

Earliest quotation: 1995, Steven Levy, The Unabomber and David Gelernter: “So Gelernter, with an insouciance he now regrets, also…”

Linked words

through Latin sollicitō

solicitation, solicit, 2 more

Today it means

noun Carelessness, heedlessness, indifference, or casual unconcern.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin sollicitō / insouciance

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