évidemment

Pronunciation

• IPA: /e.vi.da.mɑ̃/^[1]

Forms

évidemment^[1] Evidanment in the 13th century, evidemment in Juvénal des Ursins (early 15th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French évident + -ment, with haplology.^[4][5][2][1] évident is borrowed from Latin ēvidēns (“clear, manifest”), a compound of ex- and videō (“to see”).^[4][6]

Compare Old Occitan evidenmen.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi dates it to the 13th century, in the Légende de Girart de Roussillon; a 13th-century Lai d'amours has Je le connois evidanment, “I know it clearly”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “in an evident way, manifestly”, still in Descartes's que je ne la connusse évidemment être telle, but now old or literary.^[7][2] From the early 19th century (Arago) it means “to all appearances”, and, from 1865 (Littré) it is used at the head of a sentence to reinforce an assertion, “of course”, today its usual sense.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 13th century – Evidanment, Lai d'amours.^[3][4]
• Early 15th century – The spelling evidemment, Juvénal des Ursins.^[2]
• Early 19th century – “Apparently”, Arago.^[2]
• 1865 – Affirmative “of course”.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. of course, obviously, naturally: Vous venez ? — Évidemment !^[7][1]
2. Apparently, to all appearances.^[2]
3. (old or literary) Clearly, evidently, beyond doubt.^[7][2]

Related words

• évident
• évidence

References

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