affronter

Forms

affronter^[1] Old French afronter, afrunter.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French a- + front + -er.^{[2][4][5][6][7]} The Trésor sorts its senses by the sense of front behind them: the forehead itself, the side one presents when facing someone, the forehead as the seat of feeling, and the front of a thing.^[2]

Meyer-Lübke instead sets up Vulgar Latin *affrontō (“to defy”), to which he refers Italian affrontare, Occitan afrontar, Catalan afrontar, Old Spanish afrontar, Spanish afrentar and Portuguese afrontar.^[8] Wiktionary leaves both explanations open.^[1] The base noun is from Latin frons (“forehead”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1170) has it in the sense “to fell by striking on the forehead”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

From the early 13th century it meant to stand up to someone, and so to go boldly to meet an enemy or a danger, the main modern sense.^[2][6][4] From about 1500 it also meant to bring face to face, as witnesses are confronted, and in 1617 to set face to face for a fight;^[2] the participle affronté stayed in heraldry, for animals shown facing each other.^[2][10] Surgery applies it to bringing the edges of a wound together (1835).^[6]

Taking the forehead as the seat of shame, Old and Middle French used it for “to put to shame” (1221) and “to lose all shame” (late 13th century);^[2][6] from this came “to deceive” in the 16th century, which Boiste called rare in 1834 and which Meyer-Lübke found still alive in western dialects.^[2][8] The noun affront (about 1560) grew out of these senses;^[6][9] Bloch and Wartburg note that it was wrongly thought to come from Italian.^[6][9] The English verb affront (early 14th century) comes from the Old French verb.^[11]

Timeline

• 1160–1170 – Wace uses afrunter “to strike down by a blow on the forehead”.^[2]
• Early 13th century – It means to stand up to someone.^[2][4]
• 1221 – It means to cover someone with shame.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Sone de Nansay has it for losing all shame.^[2]
• 1501–1506 – Jean d'Auton uses it of confronting two men.^[2]
• 1510–1512 – Lemaire de Belges uses it of lands bordering each other, a 16th-century sense only.^[2]
• 1530–1568 – La Boétie uses it in the sense “to deceive”.^[2]
• c. 1560 – The noun affront appears.^[6][9]
• 1690 – Furetière records the heraldic use.^[2]
• 1835 – Surgeons speak of bringing the edges of a wound together.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To face boldly, to go courageously to meet an adversary or a danger; to brave: affronter le froid, affronter une épreuve.^[10][12][13]
2. (reflexive) s'affronter: to clash in combat; figuratively, of ideas or theories, to oppose each other.^[10][1]
3. To set front to front or level; in surgery, to bring the edges of a wound together.^[10][13][5]
4. (heraldry) In the participle affrontés, of animals shown facing each other.^[10]

Word family

• affront
• affrontement
• affronteur

Related words

• front
• effronté

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 q 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. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 820a
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)