Etymologically
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aimer

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Pronunciation

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

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)