aître

Forms

aître m (plural aîtres)^[1] Old French aitre, atre, eitre, estre.^[2][3] The Académie's supplement of 1842 writes aître or aitre.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ātrium (“main room of a Roman house”), an early borrowing of the Carolingian period through the language of the Church.^[5][6][7][4] In Christian Latin of the 4th century the word had come to mean the portico or forecourt of a basilica, and in Medieval Latin it also meant a cemetery.^[4] Picoche calls the word semi-learned,^[6] while Wiktionary treats it as inherited.^[1] The FEW files it under the Latin word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) for the cemetery around a church: Enfuirunt nus en aitres de mustiers “they will bury us in the churchyards of minsters”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “porch, forecourt of a church” is recorded in 1170 in the Quatre livres des Reis.^[4] In Old French the word also named ground near a church that had the right of sanctuary.^[2] In Middle French it was still used for the forecourt of a church, as in Froissart.^[9]

Later it named a covered gallery around a cemetery: Littré describes the aître Saint-Maclou at Rouen, a square court with porticoes, known for the remains of a dance of death.^[10] The plural aîtres became confused with êtres “the layout of a house”.^[7][11]

Timeline

• 1080 – First recorded in the Chanson de Roland.^[11][7]
• 1170 – Used for the porch or forecourt of a church.^[4]
• c. 1375–1400 – Froissart uses it for a church forecourt.^[9]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement gives aître or aitre as an old word.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) An open space in front of a church, used as a parvis, porch or courtyard.^[4][11][10]
2. (archaic) The courtyard or enclosure of a convent, a cloître.^[7][11]
3. (archaic or regional) Open ground beside a church used as a cemetery, or a covered gallery around a cemetery.^[4][11][10]

Related words

• atrium
• êtres
• Latin ātrium

Usage notes

The word is a doublet of atrium.^[1][11] In aître Saint-Maclou the saint's name follows without de, after the syntax of Old French.^[4] A different word, Old French aistre “hearth”, is today's âtre.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
3. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 687b
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
10. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 440a