bref

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bʁɛf/^[1]

Forms

bref (feminine brève, masculine plural brefs, feminine plural brèves)^[1] Old French brief, brieve, with the nominative briés, bref, brève from the first half of the 13th century, prevailing in the 17th.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French brief, inherited from Latin brevis (“short, in space or time”).^{[2][5][3][1][6]} The ancients already compared the Latin word with Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”), but Rey finds it hard to fit into that Indo-European family.^[2][4] Wiktionary dismisses as folk etymology the explanation of the interjection “bref” as an acronym of “Bon, Revenons-En aux Faits”.^[1]

The noun “bref” “papal brief” comes from Late Latin “breve” “summary, letter”, the neuter of the adjective used as a noun from the 6th century.^[5][3][7] Cognate with Italian breve, Old Occitan breu and Spanish breve; German Brief “letter” has the same source.^[3][4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Brief is recorded about 1050 for “of short duration”, Benoît de Sainte-Maure writes cuidant que brefs seit mult lor vie “thinking their life very short”.^[5][4] The Old French noun brief meant a letter from 1080.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective soon narrowed to time, especially for speech and writing (brève oraison, before 1200); the spatial sense “small” (about 1119) survives only in the archaic Pépin le Bref.^[2][3][8] Être bref “to be brief” dates from the late 15th century.^[2] The poets of the Pléiade gave it its sense in prosody (1549, Du Bellay), and une brève is a short syllable (1680).^[2]

A bref, de bref and en bref “soon” (1200–1250) died out in the 17th century, en bref “in a few words” (1403) and sentence-initial bref (late 15th century) took over.^[2] From Richelet (1680) the form brief was kept only in legal bonne et briève justice.^[2] In the media a brève is a short news item, whence brève de comptoir (1987).^[2] The noun bref, a papal letter on lesser matters than a bull, dates from 1557.^[5][7]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Brief “short”.^[5]
• 1080 – Noun brief “letter”.^[5][7]
• c. 1119 – Spatial “small”.^[2]
• first half of the 13th century – The form bref.^[2]
• 1403 – En bref “in a few words”.^[2]
• 1549 – In prosody, Du Bellay.^[2]
• 1557 – Bref, a papal brief.^[5]
• 1987 – Brève de comptoir.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. brief, short in duration: un bref délai, une vie brève.^[7][8][1]
2. Concise; curt (of a person or tone): soyez bref, un ton bref.^[8][2]
3. (phonetics, prosody) Short: voyelle brève.^[2]
4. (dated) Short in stature: Pépin le Bref.^[8]

Adverb

1. In short, in a word: bref, il est parti, enfin, bref, en bref.^[1][2][9]

Noun

1. A papal brief, a letter less solemn than a bull.^[7]
2. (feminine) A short syllable; a short news item.^[2]

Word family

• brièvement
• brièveté
• brevet

Related words

• abréger
• bréviaire
• Latin brevis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 520a
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF