affair

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /əˈfeə/, US /əˈfer/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English afere, borrowed from Anglo-Norman afere, borrowed from Old French afaire (“business, event; rank”) (modern French affaire),^[2][3][4] from the phrase à faire (“to do”),^[2][3][5] from Latin ad (“to”) and facere (“to do, make”),^[2][4] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).^[4] The spelling with one f was remodelled as affaire in Middle French after Latin words in aff-, and Caxton popularized it in England.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

What one has to do, business: about 1300 in the OED and Etymonline,^[6][4] probably before 1300 in Barnhart, in the plural aferes, things to do.^[2] The OED calls it originally a northern word.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its history runs parallel to that of ado, from Old Norse at “to” and do, and to that of to-do.^[7][2][3] The ordinary business of life is from 1484, commercial or professional business from 1519, and public business, the affairs of a nation, from 1605.^[6] A thing that concerns someone, as in that's my affair, is from 1611.^[6] Vaguely, any proceeding or event, in romance or war, is attested by 1702,^[4][6] and of a material thing, as the house was a wooden affair, from 1802.^[6] A love affair is from French affaire de cœur, used in English from 1809;^[4] to have an affair with someone is by 1726, and earlier to have an affair of love (1716).^[4] An affair of honour, a duel, is now archaic.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – business, what one has to do.^[6][4]
• 1484 – the business of life.^[6]
• 1605 – public affairs.^[6]
• 1702 – an event, a proceeding.^[4][6]
• 1726 – to have an affair.^[4]
• 1802 – a thing, a contrivance.^[6]
• 1809 – affaire de cœur.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A matter, thing to be done, or concern: that is my affair.
2. (affairs) Business or transactions, private or public: foreign affairs.
3. An event or occurrence, especially one that causes public interest or scandal.
4. A sexual relationship between two people, especially when one is married to someone else.
5. A social occasion or function.
6. (informal) An object of a specified kind: the house was a ramshackle affair.

Word family

• love affair

Related words

• ado
• to-do
• affaire
• fact
• feat

Usage notes

The AHD groups affair with business, concern and lookout, all meaning something that involves one personally, as in it's not my affair.^[9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin