brièveté

Forms

brièveté f (plural brièvetés)^[1] Old French brieteit, brietez and briété.^[2][3][4] Middle French briefeté, briefveté and breveté.^[5]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French brief + -té on the old form of the adjective bref.^{[3][4][6][7][8]} The DHLF describes it as a remodelling, after Latin brevitās, of the inherited forms brieteit and brietez.^[2] Wiktionary likewise calls it semi-learned, beside the inherited brieté.^[1] The old adjective is from Latin brevis (“short”).^[7]

An attempted remaking as brèveté (1549), after the modern adjective, did not replace the old form, which was supported by brièvement.^[2] Littré compares Old Occitan brevitat, Spanish brevedad and Italian brevità.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The inherited form brieteit is recorded at the end of the 12th century, and brietez in 1211–1214.^[2] The Grand Larousse cites briété from the Fet des Romains (1213).^[4]

Semantic evolution

The form brièveté appears about 1265, and in the 15th century according to Bloch and Wartburg and the Petit Robert.^[3][2][7][6] In Middle French it meant “shortness of duration” and was used in phrases such as pour cause de briefeté “for brevity's sake”, quoted from Oresme.^[9][5] Its sense of physical shortness, as of someone's height, is now dated or rare.^[4][10] The learned brévité (1819) is a technical term in phonetics.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Brieteit.^[2]
• 1213 – Briété in the Fet des Romains.^[4]
• c. 1265 – The form brièveté.^[3][2]
• 14th century – Pour cause de briefeté in Oresme.^[5]
• 1549 – The remodelled brèveté.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Short duration, brevity: la brièveté de la vie.^[6][10][5]
2. Concision in speech or writing.^[6][10][1]
3. (rare) Shortness in space, small size.^[10][4]

Related words

• bref
• brièvement
• brévité
• abréger
• Latin brevitās
• English brevity

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 520a
9. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
10. ^ a b c d 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