aimer

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɛ.me/^[1]
• IPA: /e.me/^[1]

Forms

aimer^[1] Old French infinitive amer, used until the 15th century; present aim, aims, aint.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French amer, inherited from Latin amō (“to love”).^[4][5][2][6] The infinitive “amer” was remade after the stressed forms such as “aime”, and “aimer” prevailed in the 16th century.^[5][7] Rey cites Ernout and Meillet's suggestion that the Latin verb was perhaps an expressive popular word, to be compared with Latin amita (“aunt”) and amma (“mummy”).^[4]

Gilliéron, followed by Orr, thought that “aimer” had collided with Old French esmer (“to estimate”), from Latin aestimō, and taken over its senses; the TLFi finds this unconvincing, since their meanings lay far apart, and allows only that the Old French sense “to value at (a sum)” may owe something to “esmer”.^[8] The verb belonged to the more refined language: dialects say “avoir cher” or “tenir cher” instead.^[8][5]

Cognate with Italian amare, Occitan amar, Catalan amar, Spanish amar and Portuguese amar.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie (late 9th century) in the sense “to take pleasure in, be devoted to”: nothing could bend the girl so that she would not love the service of God.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Love of God is recorded in the Vie de saint Alexis (mid-11th century: Plus aimet Deu que trestot son lignage “he loves God more than all his kin”), and the sentimental and erotic sense by about 1150.^[8][4] The strong senses soon weakened to “have a taste for” food and drink (12th century).^[4] In Old French the verb also meant “to set a price on, value at (a sum)” (before 1181), a sense that did not survive.^[8]

The constructions followed one another: aimer à with a noun (mid-12th century), aimer que with the subjunctive (1370), aimer de with an infinitive (1550), aimer à with an infinitive (Montaigne) and finally aimer followed directly by the infinitive (18th century, Rousseau).^[4] Aimer mieux “to prefer” appears about 1300 and aimer bien in the 14th century, aimer autant means “to prefer” in France but “to feel like” in Belgium.^[4] Said of plants, aimer means “to thrive in” (1549).^[4] The proverbs qui aime bien châtie bien (14th century, first qui bien aime…) and qui m'aime me suive (1690) are still in use.^[4]

The old infinitive survives in the noun amant, formed from amer (about 1130 “friend”, about 1160 “lover”).^[4][5]

Timeline

• Late 9th century – Amast in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie.^[8]
• Mid-11th century – Love of God in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[8]
• c. 1150 – Sentimental and erotic love.^[4]
• Before 1181 – “To value at a sum”, an Old French sense only.^[8]
• c. 1300 – Aimer mieux “to prefer”.^[4]
• 16th century – Aimer replaces the infinitive amer.^[5][7]
• 1549 – Of plants, “to thrive in”.^[4]
• 1690 – Qui m'aime me suive.^[4]
• 18th century – Aimer followed directly by an infinitive, in Rousseau.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To feel affection, friendship or tenderness for someone: aimer ses enfants, je l'aime bien.^[9][11]
2. To be in love with someone, to love with passion.^[9][7]
3. To like, be fond of something or someone: aimer les animaux, aimer Baudelaire.^[7][3]
4. With an infinitive or que: to like to, enjoy: Il aime lire.^[9][4]
5. Aimer mieux: to prefer, aimer autant: to prefer, or in Belgium to feel like.^[4][9]
6. Of plants: to thrive in: Cette plante aime l'ombre.^[4][7]

Word family

• aimé
• bien-aimé
• mal-aimé
• amant

Related words

• amateur
• ami
• amie
• amour
• aimable
• Latin amō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 386a
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)