aboutir

Forms

aboutir^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French a- + bout + -ir, meaning “to touch by one end”.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The TLFi separates from it an older adjective abouti (“stubborn”) (second half of the 13th century), which it derives from bouter “to push” and compares with abouter, and a late 15th-century homonym meaning “swollen”, from bout in the sense “blow”.^[2] Rey links the adjective “stubborn”, said of someone who persists to the end, with buté.^[5] In the 16th century the verb was often confused with that closely related verb, until the form in ⟨-ir⟩ prevailed in the 17th century.^[5][2]

Littré compares Walloon abosi (“to suppurate”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in 1319, is a legal one: a Paris sale contract describes a house bordering at the back (aboutissant par derrieres) on a neighbour's.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From the language of law, where it was used of land or buildings bordering on a given point, the verb passed in the 16th century into common use, both literally and figuratively.^[2][5] In 1538 Estienne records it in medicine for an abscess coming to a head, and in 1568 Pasquier uses it of something ending in a result.^[2][5] Amyot wrote aboutir en pointe “to end in a point” in 1559; this construction with en and a transitive use (1552) later disappeared.^[2][5][6]

The absolute use, “to reach the end”, spread in the 19th century (1834), especially in the figurative sense “to succeed, reach a result”: Rey dates it to 1842, the TLFi to 1866, from Larousse.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1319 – A sale contract uses aboutir a of a house bordering on another.^[2][5][4]
• 1538 – Estienne uses it of an abscess coming to a head.^[2][5]
• 1559 – Amyot writes aboutissant en pointe.^[2][6]
• 1568 – Pasquier uses it figuratively, of an end reached.^[2][5]
• 1842 – It means “to succeed”.^[5]
• 1866 – Larousse records les négociations n'ont pas encore abouti.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (with à, dans, sur) To end at, lead to, by one end: Ce sentier aboutit à la rivière.^[4][7][6]
2. (familiar) Of a person, to end up somewhere, sometimes unexpectedly.^[4]
3. (figurative, with à) To lead to, result in: Leurs discussions n'ont abouti à rien.^[4][7][8]
4. (intransitive) To come to a result, succeed: Le projet a fini par aboutir.^[4][1]

Word family

• aboutissement
• aboutissant

Related words

• bout
• abouter
• bouter

Usage notes

Tenants et aboutissants are the ins and outs of a matter.^[1]

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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 d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)