baigner

Forms

baigner^[1] Old French baignier, bagner, bainer and beignier.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French baignier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *baneō, an altered form of Late Latin balneō (“to bathe”), which is formed from balneum (“bath”).^[2][5][1][6] The Late Latin verb is recorded in the sense of bathing from the 6th century and, in Medieval Latin, in the sense of plunging or steeping.^[7] The regular outcome would have been bagner, which is found about 1170; the form with ⟨ai⟩, present from the first texts, is explained by the influence of the noun bain (Old French baing).^[7][2][8] Littré notes that in the 16th century Bèze reported that many people still pronounced its first syllable with /a/.^[4]

Cognate with Italian bagnare, Occitan banhar, Catalan banyar, Spanish bañar and Portuguese banhar.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1155 in Wace's Brut, used reflexively of sick people who bathed in order to be cured: Bainoent sei si guarisseient “they bathed and so got well”.^[7] The first sense was thus to plunge into water to wash or to heal oneself.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By about 1176 the reflexive verb also meant to bathe for pleasure.^[7][2] From about 1170 the intransitive verb meant to be soaked in a liquid, especially in blood, and figuratively to be steeped in something.^[7][2] The transitive sense “to plunge, to steep” appears before 1188, and by extension “to wet, to water”, said of blood in the 12th century and of a river or the sea that washes a land in 1267–68 (Brunet Latin's Trésor).^[7][2]

The figurative sense “to surround, to pervade” seems to have been introduced by the poets of the Pléiade in the 16th century, notably Du Bellay.^[2][7] The familiar ça baigne “everything is going fine” (20th century) is short for ça baigne dans l'huile, an image of a well-oiled machine.^[2] In African French the verb can mean simply to wash or to sprinkle, and in New Caledonia se baigner is used for taking a bath or a shower.^[2]

Timeline

• 1155 – Wace's Brut has the reflexive verb “to bathe in order to be healed”.^[7]
• c. 1170 – The intransitive sense “to be soaked (in blood)” appears in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide.^[7]
• c. 1170 – The regular form bagner is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1176 – Se baigner “to bathe for pleasure” appears in Chrétien's Cligès.^[7]
• before 1188 – The transitive sense “to plunge, to steep” is found in Partonopeus de Blois.^[7]
• 1267–68 – Brunet Latin uses it of a river that waters the land of Egypt.^[7]
• 16th century – Du Bellay uses it figuratively for “to surround, to pervade”.^[7][2]
• 1336 – The derivative baignoire is recorded.^[5]
• 1796 – Baignade is coined for the drownings of the Revolution at Nantes.^[2]
• 20th century – The familiar ça baigne “all is well” appears.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To put and keep a body or an object in water or another liquid, to immerse or soak it: baigner ses mains dans l'eau tiède.^[9][10]
2. (transitive) To give someone a bath: baigner un bébé.^[9][11]
3. (transitive) Of the sea or a river, to wash or flow along a coast or a land.^[9][12]
4. (transitive, literary) To envelop or pervade completely, as light or a liquid does.^[9][12]
5. (transitive) To wet, to moisten: un visage baigné de larmes.^[9][4]
6. (intransitive) To be immersed in a liquid, to soak: des cornichons qui baignent dans le vinaigre.^[10][4]
7. Se baigner: to take a bath, or to go for a swim.^[4][1]
8. Ça baigne (familiar): everything is going fine.^[2][1]

Word family

• baignable
• baignade
• baigneur
• baignoire
• baignage

Related words

• bain
• Latin balneum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b 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. 1, 224a
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse