Etymologically
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été

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Pronunciation

Forms

été m (plural étés)[1] Old French ested, estet (about 1100), esté (about 1140); été from the 17th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French esté, inherited from Latin aestās (“summer”), from its accusative “aestātem”.[2][4][5][3][6][1] The Latin word seems to come by haplology from “*aestitās” and belongs to the root “*aidh-” “to burn” (Wiktionary's Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ-), as do aestus (“heat”) and the words behind édifier, estuaire and éther.[4][7][1] The Latin noun was feminine, French made it masculine, probably after printemps and the other names of seasons.[2][4][5]

“Été” prevails in the north of Gallo-Romance; south of a line from the Gironde estuary to the Hautes-Alpes the dialects have “estiou”, Old Occitan estiu, from popular Latin Vulgar Latin *aestīvum (“tempus”), like Spanish estío and Portuguese estio.[5] Compare Italian estate and Catalan estiu.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it is the season of summer: Ço est en mai, al premer jur d'ested “it is in May, on the first day of summer”, and blancs cume flur en estet “white as a flower in summer”.[2]

Semantic evolution

L'été de la Saint-Martin (1721, été Saint-Martin, 1611) is a spell of fine weather in autumn; in Quebec a similar period is l'été des Indiens (1924) or l'été indien, formerly été des sauvages (1878).[4] Figuratively, in a literary and somewhat archaic style, it is the prime of life (l'été de la vie), isolated in the 16th century and then from the 18th.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Ested, Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1140 – Esté, Gaimar.[2]
  • 1611 – Été Saint-Martin.[4]
  • 17th century – Spelt été.[3]
  • 1878 – Été des sauvages in Canada.[4]
  • 1924 – Été des Indiens.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. summer, the season between spring and autumn, from the June solstice to the September equinox in the northern hemisphere: en été, vacances d'été.[7][2]
  2. L'été de la Saint-Martin, (Quebec) l'été indien: a spell of fine weather in autumn, an Indian summer.[4][8]
  3. (literary) The prime of life: l'été de la vie.[4]
  • estival
  • estivant
  • estiver
  • Latin aestās

Usage notes

Été is also the past participle of être, which Littré gives a separate article; it has nothing to do with the season.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 229b
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette