Etymologically
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demain

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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

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