Etymologically
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étudiant

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.ty.djɑ̃/[1]

Forms

étudiant m (plural étudiants, feminine étudiante)[1] Recorded as estudian (1261) and estudiant (about 1370).[2][3]

Etymology

It is the present participle, used as a noun, from French étudier (“to study”).[2][3][4][5] Étudier is a derivative of Old French estudie (“study”) (see étude).[6] Compare Occitan estudian, Spanish estudiante, Portuguese estudante and Italian studiante.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert dates estudian to 1261;[2][6][3] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF find estudiant in Oresme, about 1370.[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Until the end of the 17th century it competed with écolier for a university student; in the Middle Ages students were usually called escholiers.[2][3][4] The feminine étudiante is found in 1789 but remained rare before the end of the 19th century; the Académie gave only the masculine until 1878, and Littré records étudiante in a kind of slang for a grisette of the Latin Quarter.[2][5][7]

As an adjective, “of students”, as in le syndicalisme étudiant and le mouvement étudiant, it is from the 1960s (1965), and it tends to replace the learned estudiantin.[8][3][4]

Timeline

  • 1261 – Estudian.[2]
  • c. 1370 – Estudiant, in Oresme.[3][6]
  • Late 17th century – It replaces écolier for university students.[2]
  • 1789 – The feminine étudiante.[2][4]
  • 1965 – Adjective use, le mouvement étudiant.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A student, a person in higher education: étudiant en médecine, carte d'étudiant.[4][5]

Adjective

  1. Of students: la vie étudiante, le mouvement étudiant.[4][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c 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 c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF