abandonnement

Forms

abandonnement m (plural abandonnements)^[1] Old French abandonement, habandonement.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French abandonner + -ment.^[2][3][1][4] Abandonner comes from a phrase a ban doner, to leave someone entirely free.^[3] The sense of banishment (1415) is explained by the TLFi as a reinterpretation of the word from ban.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in the Roman de la Rose (about 1275), abandonement a tous periz, meaning the act of giving oneself up to something.^[2][5] The GLLF dates it to 1265, in Jean de Meun.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the later 13th century it also meant surrender; by 1326 it was a legal term for giving up one's goods, as in faire cession ou abandonnement de ses biens.^[2] In 1415 Juvénal des Ursins used it for the banishment of men-at-arms.^[2][5] The sense “act of granting” died out in the 15th century.^[2]

The idea of letting oneself go turned moral in the 17th century, mostly in a bad sense, up to debauchery; the same century used it for giving oneself up to God.^[2] The word also named the state of a forsaken person.^[6][4] Its senses are close to those of abandon, which has largely replaced it;^[2][5] Littré already noted that abandon was preferred for the cession of goods.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – Abandonement appears in the Roman de la Rose.^[2]
• late 13th century – Used for surrender, in a legend of Girart de Roussillon.^[2]
• 1326 – A legal term for giving up one's goods.^[2]
• 1415 – Juvénal des Ursins uses it for banishment.^[2][5]
• 17th century – Saint François de Sales uses it for giving oneself up to God's will.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) The act of abandoning someone or something, abandon.^[2][1]
2. (dated) The state of a forsaken person.^[4][6]
3. (dated) The act of letting oneself go, of yielding.^[4][6]
4. (law) The cession of one's goods to creditors, or the assignment of property to each co-owner in a partition.^[5][4][7]

Related words

• abandonner
• abandon
• ban

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org