demain

Pronunciation

• IPA: /də.mɛ̃/^[1]
• IPA: /dmɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

demain^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dē māne (“early in the morning”), literally “from the morning”, first found in the Vulgate.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The phrase strengthens with dē the word māne (“morning; in the morning”), the neuter of an archaic adjective mānis (“good”) (compare the mânes), as in the French “de bonne heure” and “de bon matin”.^[3] From “in the morning” it came to mean “from the morning of the next day”, then “tomorrow”; naming the next day by the morning is common, as German morgen and Spanish mañana show.^[4][3] As a noun for the morning itself it was replaced by “matūtīnum” (see matin), and Latin crās (“tomorrow”) left hardly a trace apart from procrastination.^[3][4]

Cognate with Italian domani and Old Occitan deman.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), both as an adverb and as a noun.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the next day, demain came to mean the near future, often in contrast with aujourd'hui (1273, Adenet le Roi), sometimes ironically: c'est pas demain la veille, ce n'est pas pour demain.^[6][3][7] The compounds lendemain, from l'endemain (endemain was usual from the 12th to the 15th century), and après-demain (1690) were formed on it.^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Adverb and noun in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• 1273 – “The near future”, in Adenet le Roi.^[6]
• 1292 – Landemain, later lendemain.^[3]
• 1690 – Après-demain.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. tomorrow, on the day after today: à demain, demain matin.^[7][1]
2. In the near future: ce n'est pas pour demain.^[6][7]

Noun

1. The next day: demain est un autre jour.^[6]
2. The future: les lendemains qui chantent, le monde de demain.^[7][6]

Word family

• lendemain
• après-demain

Related words

• matin
• Latin māne

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 36b
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert