étonnant

Forms

étonnant (feminine étonnante, masculine plural étonnants, feminine plural étonnantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French étonner + -ant, the present participle of the verb used as an adjective.^[2][3][4] The verb, Old French estoner, first meant “to be stunned by a violent blow”.^[1][5] The TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg derive it from Vulgar Latin *extonō, a form of Latin attonō (“to strike with thunder, to stun”) with its prefix replaced;^[5][6] Wiktionary calls the verb's origin obscure and also mentions a Frankish source, Frankish *stunōn (“to make a loud sound”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first recorded in the 16th century, in a play of the Ancien Théâtre français, in the strong sense of the verb at the time: “stunning, shattering like a thunderclap”.^[3][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed the weakening of étonner, which in the Middle Ages meant to stun physically and then to shake someone's mind, and has meant only “to surprise” since the 17th century.^[6][7] The strong sense of étonnant died out; from the early 17th century it was used of what surprises by being out of the ordinary, as in Pascal (before 1662).^[7][3]

From the late 17th century it also praised what strikes by being accomplished or original, a sense Fontenelle uses in 1683 and which is still current.^[7][3] In the 20th century it came to describe a person or thing that is merely odd or unexpected.^[3] The adverb étonnamment is first found in 1742 in Canada and in France in 1752.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 16th century – First recorded, meaning “stunning, shattering”.^[3][2]
• Early 17th century – Used of what surprises by its strangeness.^[7][4]
• Before 1662 – Pascal uses it of what strikes the mind with admiration.^[3]
• 1683 – Fontenelle uses it of what is surprising and holds attention.^[3]
• 1752 – Étonnamment is recorded in France (1742 in Canada).^[5][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Giving a violent shock, shattering, physically or morally.^[4][3]
2. surprising, astonishing because unexpected or out of the ordinary: une nouvelle étonnante.^[5][4][1]
3. Remarkable, admirable for its qualities: un homme étonnant.^[3][8]
4. Il n'est pas étonnant que (with the subjunctive): it is no surprise that, as in il n'est pas étonnant qu'elle soit fatiguée.^[5][8]

Word family

• étonnamment

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f 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
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette