Etymologically
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debout

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /də.bu/[1]

Forms

debout[1] Old French de bot, de but (1155); written debout from the 13th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a compound from French de + bout (“end”), literally “on end”.[4][3][5][6][1][7] bout is derived from bouter “to strike, push”, from Frankish *bōtan.[8] Littré rejects the idea that nautical “vent debout” contains a Germanic word for the bow of a ship (English bow): the bow is simply the “bout” of the ship.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Wace's Brut (1155) de but means “at once, straight away”, a sense limited to Old French; about 1190 it meant “end to end”.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French also used it for “beside” and “absolutely”.[6] The modern sense, of a person “on their feet, out of bed”, is first recorded by Palsgrave (1530); contes à dormir debout “tall tales” is in Cotgrave (1611), and the exclamation debout! in Monet (1638).[4] Montaigne (1580) has mourir debout, still active.[4] Of things it means upright, set on one end (1616), and still standing, surviving (1680: la muraille de la vile étoit encore debout), a sense found in 1546.[4][9] Vent debout, a headwind, is recorded in 1732, and ne pas tenir debout is said of an argument that does not hold.[4][2]

Timeline

  • 1155 – De but “at once”, Wace.[4]
  • c. 1190 – “End to end”.[3]
  • 1530 – “On one's feet”, Palsgrave.[4]
  • 1546 – Of a building, “still standing”.[9]
  • 1580 – Mourir debout, Montaigne.[4]
  • 1611 – Contes à dormir debout, Cotgrave.[4]
  • 1732 – Vent debout.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. standing, on one's feet: rester debout, se mettre debout, places debout.[5][1]
  2. Up, out of bed: être debout à six heures.[10][1]
  3. Upright, on end: mettre des livres debout.[5][10]
  4. Still standing, intact: les murs sont encore debout.[10][2]
  5. Tenir debout: to stand up, hold together, cela ne tient pas debout, that makes no sense.[2][1]
  6. Dormir debout: to be asleep on one's feet, une histoire à dormir debout, a tall tale.[1][4]
  7. (nautical) Vent debout: a headwind.[4][1]

Interjection

  1. Debout!: get up![5][1]
  • bout
  • bouter
  • about
  • aboutir

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  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 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
  5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 219a
  8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)