bannir

Forms

bannir^[1] Old French banir.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also baner and banner.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *bannjan (“to proclaim, to summon (troops)”),^{[5][2][6][7][8][9]} a verb related to Frankish *ban, the source of ban.^[5][2] The Frankish verb is recorded in latinized form as Medieval Latin banniō from about 700, and this Latin verb took on senses of bannus;^[5][6][2] Rey thinks the French word came in through it.^[5][6][2] Bloch and Wartburg compare Old High German bannan “to command under threat” and trace the sense to a confusion, probably already Germanic, with the family of the noun.^[6]

Gamillscheg's idea of a crossing in Medieval Latin with a Frankish *bandjan (“to give a sign”) is rejected by the TLFi as needless, and Rey agrees.^[5][2] Rey separates two lines: the Frankish verb gave the French one, while a Gothic and Burgundian verb meaning “to give a sign” gave Old Occitan bandir (“to proclaim”), Franco-Provençal bandi, Italian bandire and Catalan bandir, whose sense “to exile” is due to the French verb.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg add that Spanish bandir is a loan.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has the past participle in ost banie, an army summoned by ban: En Sarraguce menez vostre ost banie “lead your summoned host to Saragossa”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In feudal law the verb meant “to summon an army by ban” until the 15th century, and also, by about 1155 (Wace), “to proclaim publicly, by trumpet or crier”.^[5][2] The sense “to proclaim” went out of use in the 14th century but lived on in Norman and Jersey dialect as “to put up for auction” and “to publish the banns of marriage”.^[2][5]

The modern sense “to drive out, exclude” is recorded in 1204 and the legal sense “to condemn to leave a place, never to return” in 1209, both in the Reclus de Molliens; after Middle French it drove out the other uses.^[5][2] By extension it came to mean “to proscribe, forbid”, in a formal register.^[2][1] The noun bannissement (early 13th century) followed the same path.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland has ost banie “army summoned by ban”.^[5]
• c. 1155 – Wace uses it for “to proclaim”.^[5]
• 1204 – The Reclus de Molliens uses it for “to drive out”.^[5]
• 1209 – The Reclus de Molliens uses it for “to exile”.^[5]
• c. 1220 – Bannissement is recorded.^[6]
• 14th century – The sense “to proclaim” goes out of general use.^[2]
• 1418 – Last record of the feudal sense “summoned by ban”.^[5]
• 1661 – Molière uses bannissable.^[5][6]
• 1879 – A Jersey newspaper uses it for “to put up for auction”.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To banish, to condemn someone to leave a country and forbid their return: le roi bannit le traître.^[8][10][1]
2. (dated) To send away or keep someone away from a place or a group.^[8][3][11]
3. (figurative) To put aside, give up or ban something: bannir le sucre de son alimentation.^[8][11][1]
4. (pronominal) Se bannir: to go into exile, to keep away from.^[3]

Word family

• bannissable
• bannissement

Related words

• ban
• bandit
• forban

Usage notes

The TLFi treats as a separate rare verb bannir in old law, “to publish by ban” (as of the opening of the grape harvest), and in feudal law “to seize (an inheritance)”.^[5] In Norman and Jersey dialect bannir kept the senses “to auction” and “to publish the banns”.^[5][2]

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 l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 65a
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse