affiner

Forms

affiner^[1] Old French afiner.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French a- + fin² + -er in Old French.^[2][4][1] The adjective comes from the Latin noun fīnis (“end, limit”), which from Cicero's time also meant the highest or most perfect point of something.^[5] The TLFi sees the senses developing along two lines: one from the noun's sense “final point, perfection, purity”, the other, later, from the adjective's sense “very thin” and, figuratively, “sharp, subtle”.^[2]

Littré compares Occitan afinar, Spanish afinar and Italian affinare.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1223 in Gautier de Coinci's Miracles de Nostre Dame, figuratively, “to make perfect, to purify” (of the soul).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

By 1285 it had the concrete sense of purifying a material, above all a metal, by freeing it from foreign matter: Adenet le Roi speaks of a bridle of or afiné.^[2][7] About 1510, in Gringore, it took the sense “to deceive by cunning”, which the Académie called old in 1835 and which George Sand's country novels still used.^[2][8]

The later senses follow the adjective fin “thin, delicate”: to finish cloth (1752), to ripen cheese, to make a shape or a mind finer, often in the reflexive s'affiner.^[9][8][6] Its derivatives include affinage (1390) and affineur (1302), and the compound raffiner (1468).^[7]

Timeline

• 1223 – Gautier de Coinci uses it for purifying the soul.^[2]
• 1285 – Adenet le Roi uses it of refined gold.^[2]
• 1390 – The derivative affinage is recorded.^[7][5]
• c. 1510 – Gringore uses it for “to deceive by cunning”.^[2][7]
• 1752 – Used of finishing cloth.^[9]
• 1835 – The Académie calls the sense “to deceive” old.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To refine or purify a metal or glass.^[9][6]
2. To give the final finish to a product, such as cloth; to ripen cheese.^[9][8]
3. To make thinner or finer, as hemp, cement or the point of a nail.^[8][6]
4. (figurative) To make finer or more delicate, as taste or judgment; reflexive s'affiner, to become finer.^[9]
5. (obsolete) To deceive by cunning.^[9][2]

Word family

• raffiner
• affinage
• affineur
• affinement

Related words

• fin²
• finesse
• Latin fīnis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert