août

Forms

août m (plural aoûts)^[1] Old French aüst (in two syllables), aost, aoust and oust.^[2][3][4] The spelling aoust was current from 1174 to 1759 and août is recorded from 1700.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French aost, inherited from Vulgar Latin agustus, from Latin augustus (“(the month) of Augustus”), with mēnsis (“month”) understood.^[6][2][7][8] The month was renamed in honour of the emperor Augustus, replacing Sextīlis, the sixth month of the old Roman year.^[6][2] The form without /au/ is found in Late Latin from the 4th century.^[6] The emperor's title, meaning “consecrated, venerable”, comes from augur, connected with augeō (“to increase”).^[5] It is a doublet of auguste¹.^[1]

Because the word had become so short, northern dialects often remade it in two syllables or strengthened it with mois.^[7] Cognate with Romanian august, Italian agosto, Spanish agosto, Portuguese agosto, Occitan agost and Catalan agost.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as aüst in Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1115–1130), naming the month of August.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the month, the word meant “harvest time, the harvest” from about 1170;^[6][2] this sense lasted into the 17th century and is still used by La Fontaine, but has only a literary value now, though it lives on in dialects.^[2][7] It produced the old derivatives aoûter “to harvest” and aoûtage.^[2]

La mi-août, “the middle of August”, the feast of the Assumption on 15 August, is recorded from the middle of the 12th century.^[6][2] Later derivatives follow the changing associations of the month: aoûtat, a midsummer parasite, is a regional word written down at the end of the 19th century, and aoûtien (about 1965) is a person who takes holidays in August.^[2]

The pronunciation shrank from two syllables to one: Palsgrave in the 16th century noted /a.o/, but many already said it in one syllable.^[4] The TLFi gives /u/ as the norm and calls /au/ archaic or dialectal, like /ut/; the Grand Robert gives /u/ and the common /ut/.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1115–1130 – Aüst appears in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[6]
• mid-12th century – Mi-aoust names the feast of the Assumption.^[6]
• c. 1170 – It is used for the harvest season.^[6][2]
• 1174 – The spelling aoust is recorded; it lasts until 1759.^[5]
• 1700 – The spelling août is recorded.^[5]
• 17th century – The sense “harvest” goes out of general use.^[2]
• c. 1965 – The derivative aoûtien appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. August, the eighth month of the year.^[5][6]
2. La mi-août: the 15th of August, the feast of the Assumption.^[5][4]
3. (obsolete) The harvest, harvest time.^[9][4]

Word family

• aoûtat
• aoûter
• aoûteron

Related words

• auguste¹
• Latin augustus

Usage notes

The TLFi notes that before the month names avril, août and octobre, numerals such as deux and trois were traditionally not linked, though the liaison was becoming common.^[6] The classical phrase faire son août meant “to make a large profit”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 911a
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse