aubaine

Forms

aubaine f (plural aubaines)^[1] Old French aubene (1237); the spelling aubaine is recorded in 1611.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Old French aubain (“protected foreigner”), the feudal name of a foreigner who lived under a lord's protection and owed him dues and taxes.^[3][2][4][1] The base word appears in the middle of the 12th century, first as a feminine adjective in the phrase la gent aubaine (“the foreign people”), and corresponds to Medieval Latin albanus of the 10th and 11th centuries.^[3][5]

Its origin is uncertain, and the Académie calls it obscure.^[6][3] If the masculine came first, Rey suggests a Vulgar Latin *alibanus (“who is elsewhere”), from alibī (“elsewhere”);^[3] the Grand Robert also mentions a derivative of the Latin adverb, and the FEW files the word under this reconstruction.^[5][7] If the feminine came first, as the French records suggest, Rey thinks the source is probably Frankish *alibanni (“man of another ban, of another jurisdiction”), a view supported by the use of the Medieval Latin word from Flanders to the Soissonnais but not in Occitan France;^[3] the Petit Robert and Picoche also give a Frankish *aliban (“of another ban”), and Picoche thinks it may have merged with the Latin form.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As aubene (1237) it first meant the lord's right to the goods of a protected foreigner, the aubain.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense was the main one for centuries: the succession to a foreigner's goods, and droit d'aubaine, the right by which the property of a foreigner who died without being naturalized went to the lord and later to the king.^[9][2][10] This right became a royal one in the 16th century and was abolished only in 1819.^[3] In the 19th century Proudhon used aubaine and droit d'aubaine for the profit drawn by the owner of capital.^[9][3]

The word owes its life in modern French to a figurative use found in La Fontaine (1668): an unexpected profit or windfall.^[3][11][12] From its commercial use, Quebec French drew the sense “sale, reduced-price item”, while in France it keeps only the general sense of a stroke of luck or a good opportunity.^[3][2][13]

Timeline

• 1237 – Aubene is recorded for the lord's right to a foreigner's goods.^[3][2]
• 16th century – The droit d'aubaine becomes a royal right.^[3]
• 1611 – The spelling aubaine is recorded.^[2]
• 1668 – La Fontaine uses it of an unexpected profit.^[3][11][12]
• 1819 – The droit d'aubaine is abolished.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical, law) The succession to the goods of a foreigner who died without being naturalized, and the right (droit d'aubaine) by which they went to the lord or the king.^[9][2][10]
2. An unexpected profit or advantage, a windfall, a godsend: Ce contrat imprévu fut une aubaine pour l'atelier.^{[9][2][13][1]}
3. (regional) In Quebec and northern France, a sale at reduced prices, or an item on special offer.^[2][13][3]

Related words

• aubain
• ban

Usage notes

Larousse dictionaries from 1890 to 1907 also record aubaine as the name of a variety of wheat, a separate word that the FEW files under Latin albus “white” and that Larousse marked as old from 1922.^[14][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 315b
8. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
9. ^ a b c d 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
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
12. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
13. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
14. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 308b