Etymologically
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devenir

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /də.v(ə).niʁ/[1]

Forms

devenir[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French devenir, inherited from Latin dēveniō (“to come to, arrive at”), from dē and veniō (“to come”).[2][3][1][4] In classical Latin the verb meant “to arrive at, come to” and figuratively “to resort to”; only in Late Latin did it take the sense “to become”, the one French inherited.[5][3][6] Littré explains the shift: becoming is passing from one state to another.[6] Rey calls it an early borrowing from Latin rather than an inherited word.[5]

Cognate with Old Occitan devenir and Italian divenire.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century.[2] The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) already uses it with a predicate, ne devient chrestien “becomes a Christian”, and in the question Qu'est devenuz li gasconz Engelers? “What has become of Engelier the Gascon?”[6]

Semantic evolution

The impersonal il devient was used only in classical French, in the 18th century, and devenir à rien “to come to nothing” (1549) has gone out of use.[5] The sense “to come or come back from somewhere” (1282, again in 1807), alive in the Centre and West of France, in Canada and in Louisiana, is due to the influence of venir rather than to the Latin word.[5][7][3][1]

The infinitive used as a noun, le devenir “change, becoming”, appears in Michelet in 1839 and belongs mainly to philosophy and literary style.[5][8]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – First record.[2]
  • c. 1100 – Devenir chrestien in the Chanson de Roland.[6]
  • c. 1200 – Redevenir.[3]
  • 1282 – The sense “to come from somewhere”.[7]
  • 1549 – Devenir à rien “to come to nothing”.[5]
  • 1839 – Le devenir, the noun, in Michelet.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become, to pass from one state to another: devenir riche, il est devenu médecin.[8][9]
  2. In questions, to fare, to end up: qu'allons-nous devenir ?, qu'est-il devenu ?[8][6]
  3. (regional, Quebec, Louisiana) To come from somewhere: j'en deviens.[7][1]

Noun

  1. Le devenir: change, becoming, the process by which things are transformed.[8][10]
  2. The future of someone or something: le devenir de la démocratie.[10]

Word family

  • redevenir

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 59b
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)