Farouche

Farouche (pronounced fa-roosh)

(1) Fierce; wild, unpolished.

(2) Sullenly unsociable or shy.

(3) Socially inept.

1760–1770: From the French farouche, from the Old French farouche, faroche & forasche of uncertain origin but which may be related to the Late Latin forāsticus (from without; belonging outside or out of doors (in the sense of not being sufficiently civilized to be welcomed indoors)), a derivative of the adverb and preposition forās (also forīs) ((to the) outside, abroad; out of doors).

In French, the evolution of meaning was organic and included (1) an animal shy of human contact (apprivoiser une bête farouche (to tame a wild beast)), (2) shy, unsociable, retiring, hesitant (un regard farouche (a shy glance)), (3) a women thought distant or unapproachable (Cette femme est bien farouche (this woman is very unapproachable)), (4) stubborn or intransigent, (5) things savage, dangerous & fierce and (6) those whose support is staunch.  Farouchement (fiercely, strongly, bitterly, doggedly, rabidly) is an adverb and the versatile effaroucher (to scare off an animal; figuratively to frighten or alarm somebody; to shock) is a verb.

Lindsay Lohan looking a tad farouche.

The use in French to refer to animals didn’t carry over to English (the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) actually denying the meaning in English doesn’t exist) except among those who like to throw in the odd foreign phrase.  As in French, farouche is used to describe people either habitually difficult or those having a difficult moment and such is the range of application to the human condition that it should be applied with some care, lest misunderstandings occur.  Although farouche can mean “wild, savage or fierce”, it can also mean “unsocial, socially awkward or reticent” while, at the end of the spectrum it can convey the sense of someone merely shy.  So it’s a wide vista and while the breadth is accommodated by the etymology, the Late Latin forāsticus (outsider; belonging outside the house) used in the sense of those lacking the polite manners to be invited into the house, the nuances of use are important.  In the most general sense, in English, farouche is a word for someone thought to be, where pathologically or by whim, an outsider.  For that reason, farouche in English translations needs to be understood in the tradition of French use.  Victor Hugo (1802–1885) in Les Misérables (1862) has Grantaire say “Je suis farouche” (I am farouche) and that's always been translated in the sense of “I am wild”.  In the same novel Enjolras is referred to as an “Antinuous farouche” (a wild Antinous), an allusion to the alluring Greek youth who was something of a companion to Hadrian (76–138; Roman emperor from 117 to 138).  In English, the use is almost exclusively of sullen or difficult people with no connection to beasts of the wild.

Farouche is most often used as an adjective but can be applied as a noun; the noun plural is farouches.  To soften the harshness of the word, most use touches like “a little farouche”, “a tad farouche”, “a bit on the farouche side” or “one of her farouche moments”.  The noun/adverb combination can be handy; farouches bored at dinner noted often farouchely fiddling with their phones.