auvent

Forms

auvent m (plural auvents)^[1] Old French anvant (1180) and auvant.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

The origin is disputed, and Rey calls it obscure.^[6] It is first found as inherited from Old French anvant,^[2][3][5] which Bloch and Wartburg, the Petit Robert and the FEW consider borrowed from Gaulish *andebanno-, a compound of the intensive prefix ande- and banno- (“horn”).^[5][3][7] This explanation, put forward by Jakob Jud, rests on the bull's horns that the Gauls set on their houses to protect them; the ending was then remodelled after vent, and the first syllable ⟨an-⟩, taken for the prefix en-, was replaced by ⟨au-⟩.^[5][6] It is compared with Old Occitan amban “parapet or gallery of a fortification” and Languedocian embans “shop awning”,^[5] and with Catalan envà.^[1]

Rey objects that the Old Occitan word chiefly meant “circuit, perimeter”, hence “entrenchment” and “parapet”, which fits the French sense badly.^[6] P. Guiraud derived it more simply from au-devant, from Vulgar Latin *ante-abante, a view Rey calls simple but unproved.^[6][2] Since Du Cange it had been taken from Latin ante (“before”) and vannum (“winnowing fan”), which Rey finds unlikely, and later from a Germanic stem.^[6] Medieval Latin had auventus by 1160 and antevanna in 1209.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the form anvant to 1180; the GLLF cites auvant from the 12th-century Mort Aymeri.^[2][3][4] In the 13th-century Roman de la Rose a hanged man is left sans coverture et sans auvent, “without cover and without shelter”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its concrete sense of a small projecting roof, with few technical or figurative uses, such as hands held en auvent over the eyes.^[6] Littré records gardeners' shelters of straw matting or wood protecting espaliers from spring frosts, and a removable false port used at sea to keep rain out of a gunport; he objects to its use for a shutter or louvre, a sense the GLLF marks as old.^[8][4] In African French it is the usual word for a small light building, a shelter.^[6]

Littré rejects a link with Middle French ostevent, found in Commynes, which meant a screen against the wind.^[8]

Timeline

• 1160 – Medieval Latin auventus is recorded.^[6]
• 1180 – The Old French form anvant is recorded.^[2][3]
• 13th century – The spelling auvent appears in the Roman de la Rose.^[8]
• 1209 – Medieval Latin antevanna is recorded.^[6]
• 16th century – Bernard Palissy plans auvans, low galleries to shelter artillery.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small projecting roof over a door, window or shopfront that shelters it from the rain; an awning, a canopy.^[3][9][10]
2. (gardening) A shelter of matting or boards that protects wall-trained trees from frost.^[8][3]
3. (Africa) A small light building used as a shelter.^[6]

Related words

• vent
• avant

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. 24, 545b
8. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ 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