belles-lettresn.

/ˌbɛlˈlɛtr/

Forms: Also 1700s -letters, belle-lettre.

Etymology: French; lit. ‘fine letters, i.e. literary studies,’ parallel to beaux arts the ‘fine arts’; embracing, according to Littré, grammar, rhetoric, and poetry.

Elegant or polite literature or literary studies. A vaguely-used term, formerly taken sometimes in the wide sense of ‘the humanities,’ literæ humaniores; sometimes in the exact sense in which we now use ‘literature’; in the latter use it has come down to the present time, but it is now generally applied (when used at all) to the lighter branches of literature or the æsthetics of literary study.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > [noun]

writing1340

scripturea1382

scrowsa1513

stuff1542

the republic of letters1677

belles-lettres1710

literature1711

the Muses1838

lit.1850

letters1916

1710 J. Swift in J. Swift & R. Steele Tatler No. 230 The Traders in History and Politicks, and the Belles Lettres.

1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 23 Civil or Military Law, or any other Part of the Belles Letters.

1801 Finlayson H. Blair To endow a Professorship of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the University of Edinburgh.

1848 L. Hunt Town iii. 138 A strong union has always existed between the law and the belles-lettres.

a1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. (1878) i. 34 That vapid, half naturalized term ‘belles-lettres,’ which has had some currency as a substitute for the term ‘literature.’

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online June 2021).

单词	belles-lettres
释义	belles-lettresn. /ˌbɛlˈlɛtr/ Forms: Also 1700s -letters, belle-lettre. Etymology: French; lit. ‘fine letters, i.e. literary studies,’ parallel to beaux arts the ‘fine arts’; embracing, according to Littré, grammar, rhetoric, and poetry. Elegant or polite literature or literary studies. A vaguely-used term, formerly taken sometimes in the wide sense of ‘the humanities,’ literæ humaniores; sometimes in the exact sense in which we now use ‘literature’; in the latter use it has come down to the present time, but it is now generally applied (when used at all) to the lighter branches of literature or the æsthetics of literary study. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > [noun] writing1340 scripturea1382 scripturea1382 scrowsa1513 stuff1542 the republic of letters1677 belles-lettres1710 literature1711 the Muses1838 lit.1850 letters1916 1710 J. Swift in J. Swift & R. Steele Tatler No. 230 The Traders in History and Politicks, and the Belles Lettres. 1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 23 Civil or Military Law, or any other Part of the Belles Letters. 1801 Finlayson H. Blair To endow a Professorship of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the University of Edinburgh. 1848 L. Hunt Town iii. 138 A strong union has always existed between the law and the belles-lettres. a1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. (1878) i. 34 That vapid, half naturalized term ‘belles-lettres,’ which has had some currency as a substitute for the term ‘literature.’ This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online June 2021). < n.1710
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