adonner

Forms

adonner^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *addōnō, formed with ad- on dōnō (“to give”).^[2][3][4][5] The Vulgar Latin verb is inferred from the age of its Romance counterparts: Old Occitan adonar “to ally oneself” (early 13th century), Old Catalan adonarse “to adapt”, Old Spanish adonar (1220–1250) and Old Italian addonare “to notice”, and the reflexive verb is found in Medieval Latin texts of 1296.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF call it probable.^[6][7] Littré explained it as à and donner.^[8]

It soon came to be felt as a prefixed form of that verb, while losing any connection of meaning with it.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in the Vie de saint Evroult (about 1140), is the reflexive s'adonner a “to face, look toward”, said of a place: En tertre qui au bois s'adonne “on a hill that faces the wood”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From “to face” the reflexive verb came to mean “to lead toward” (of a road, late 12th century) and “to present itself favourably” (of the weather or an occasion), a sense found until the early 17th century.^[2][3] In Old and Middle French the verb was also transitive, adoner quelqu'un a “to subject someone to”, and sometimes meant “to give, hand over”, notably of a serf given to a religious house (1253); Bloch and Wartburg note the sense “to give, deliver” up to the 16th century.^[3][6]

The surviving use, s'adonner à “to devote oneself to”, appears first with an infinitive in Gautier d'Arras (1164) and then with a noun, mostly in a bad sense (1342, of the seven deadly sins).^[2][3] Nicot noted in 1606 that it could be used in a good or a bad sense.^[2] At sea the intransitive verb has been used since 1687 of a wind turning favourable,^[9] and in Canadian French it means “to get along” (1894) and “to turn out, happen”.^[9][1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – S'adonner a “to face” in the Vie de saint Evroult.^[2]
• 1164 – Gautier d'Arras uses s'adonner a with an infinitive, “to give oneself to”.^[2][7]
• late 12th century – Béroul's Tristan uses it of a road leading somewhere.^[2]
• 1245–1280 – Rutebeuf uses it of the weather presenting itself favourably.^[2]
• 1253 – Used of a serf given to a religious establishment.^[3]
• 1342 – S'adoner a with a noun, of the deadly sins.^[2][3]
• 1606 – Nicot notes its use in a good or bad sense.^[2]
• 1687 – The nautical sense, of a wind turning favourable.^[9]
• 1894 – Canadian s'adonner “to get along”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) S'adonner à: to devote oneself to an activity or a habit, often a bad one: il s'adonne à la peinture.^[9][7][1]
2. (nautical) Of the wind, to veer in a favourable direction.^[9][10][7]
3. (Canada, familiar) S'adonner: to get along, to suit each other.^[9][1]
4. (Canada, familiar) Ça adonne bien, mal: it turns out or comes at a good or bad time.^[9][1]
5. (Louisiana) To get along, to get used to.^[1]

Related words

• adon
• donner
• Latin dōnō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 136b
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)