aveugle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /a.vœɡl/^[1]

Forms

aveugle (plural aveugles)^[1] Old French avogle (about 1050) and avugle, aveugle is recorded in the 13th century, but the verb aveugler already early in that century.^[2][3] Medieval texts also have aveules, awgle and avegles.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French avogle, inherited from Late Latin *ab oculīs (“without eyes”), from oculus (“eye”), a phrase that Bloch and Wartburg think was coined in medical Latin and passed into common speech; its sound development shows the influence of the learned language.^[5][6][7] The preposition ab is common in Latin phrases expressing absence.^[5] The phrase may be a calque of Ancient Greek ἀπὸ ὀμμάτων (apò ommátōn, “without eyes”),^[3][6][5] but Rey thinks more likely a fuller phrase with Latin orbus (“bereft”), meaning “bereft of eyes”.^[2] A derivation from Late Latin alboculus (“white-eyed”), used in medical Latin of a person with cataract, fits the sense less well.^[2] Wiktionary also mentions Gaulish exops (“eyeless”), and notes that the cluster /kl/ did not develop as usual, so that the word may be semi-learned; popular and dialect forms such as ⟨aveuil⟩ show the regular outcome.^[1]

The word replaced the Old French cieu, from caecus, and orb, from the same Latin adjective “bereft”.^[2] Cognate with Old Occitan avogol, Walloon aveûle, Picard aveule and Old Italian avocolo.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has avogle “unable to see”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses came quickly: “whose judgment is clouded by passion” (13th century), then in classical French “that clouds the judgment”, of fortune or fate (1629), and of feelings that allow no reasoning, as in une confiance aveugle.^[2] Serpent aveugle was the slow-worm (1562).^[2]

A series of metonymies gave “where one cannot see clearly”, of a dark room (second half of the 13th century), “letting no light through”, as in fenêtre aveugle (16th century), and in anatomy “closed at one end”, as in intestin aveugle (1636), compare cæcum.^[2] From the noun come à l'aveugle “without seeing”, figuratively “without thought” (1669),^[2] and the simile crier comme un aveugle qui a perdu son bâton, found from 1611.^[8] In the 20th century it also qualifies what is done without seeing, as an opération aveugle.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Avogle in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[3]
• 13th century – The form aveugle;^[2] “blinded by passion”.^[2]
• 16th century – Fenêtre aveugle.^[2]
• 1562 – Serpent aveugle “slow-worm”.^[2]
• 1611 – Crier comme un aveugle qui a perdu son bâton.^[8]
• 1636 – Intestin aveugle.^[2]
• 1669 – À l'aveugle.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Blind, unable to see: devenir aveugle, être aveugle de naissance.^[9][1]
2. (figurative) Blind, lacking judgment or unwilling to see the truth: La passion le rend aveugle.^[9][1]
3. (figurative) Unquestioning, unchecked by reason: une confiance aveugle.^[1][2]
4. (architecture) Blind, letting no light through: fenêtre aveugle, (anatomy) closed at one end.^[1][2]

Noun

1. A blind person.^[1][9]
2. À l'aveugle: blindly, without seeing or without thinking.^[2]

Word family

• aveuglement
• aveugler
• aveugle-né

Related words

• œil
• cæcum
• Latin oculus

Usage notes

The proverb il n'est pire aveugle que celui qui ne veut pas voir means “there are none so blind as those who will not see”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 35b
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert