dehors

Pronunciation

• IPA: /də.ɔʁ/^[1]

Forms

dehors^[1] Old French defors, dehors appears from the late 12th or early 13th century.^[2][3] Eastern dialects and Franco-Provençal kept defors, southern French defors and deforas.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French defors, inherited from Late Latin dēforis (“from outside; outside”), formed from Latin dē (“from”) and forīs (“out of doors”), which also gave fors.^[2][3][4] The form “dehors” arose in two steps: the /f/ between vowels dropped as it regularly did, giving deors, and then an /h/ developed, at first in the emphatic exclamation, and spread to every use.^[2][3] The Grand Robert also sees the influence of hors.^[5]

Cognate with Italian difuori, Occitan defors, Catalan defora and Spanish defuera.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

As defors it is an adverb meaning “outside” in the Vie de saint Léger (late 10th century); the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has the preposition: Defors son cors veit gesir la buele (“he sees his entrails lying outside his body”).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century dehors was both adverb and preposition, like dedans; it then became an adverb, and en dehors de took over the prepositional use.^[3][5] The Académie (1798–1878) allowed the preposition only in phrases such as il passa par dehors la ville.^[2] Mettre dehors “to throw out” is recorded at the beginning of the 15th century, in Juvénal des Ursins, and toutes voiles dehors “under full sail” in the Académie's dictionary of 1835.^[8]

As a noun it is found in au defors about 1268; the plural les dehors came to mean outward appearance in the 16th century, and in the 17th the front, outbuildings and garden of a house and the outworks of a fortress.^[2][3] In ballet, en dehors (with the legs turned outwards) is used by Lauze in 1623.^[9]

Timeline

• late 10th century – Defors, adverb, in the Vie de saint Léger.^[2]
• c. 1100 – The preposition in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• late 12th–early 13th century – The form dehors in a manuscript of the Brut.^[2][3]
• c. 1268 – The noun phrase au defors.^[2]
• 16th century – Les dehors “outward appearance”.^[2][3]
• 1623 – En dehors as a term of dance.^[9]
• 17th century – Restricted to use as an adverb.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. outside, out of doors; away from home: coucher dehors, je serai dehors toute la journée.^[10][11]
2. Mettre, jeter quelqu'un dehors: to throw someone out; to dismiss someone.^[10][8]
3. Dehors !: get out!^[10][12]
4. En dehors de: outside of; apart from, except.^[11]

Noun

1. The outside, the exterior of something.^[10]
2. (plural) Outward appearances: sous des dehors rudes.^[11]
3. (plural, fortification) The outworks of a stronghold.^[11][3]

Preposition

1. (archaic) Outside of: dehors la ville.^[10][2]

Related words

• dedans
• hors
• fors
• Latin forīs

Usage notes

The ⟨h⟩ is aspirated, as Palsgrave already noted, Littré rejected the pronunciation dé-hors, which he heard often in Paris.^[7][2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 702b
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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 d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)