dormant

Forms

dormant (feminine dormante, masculine plural dormants, feminine plural dormantes)^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from French dormir.^[2][3][4][5] The verb itself continues Latin dormiō (“to sleep”).^[6][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The participle was used as an adjective in a figurative sense from the start: eau dormante, “still water”, is found about 1112 in the Voyage de saint Brendan,^[2][3][8] where the travellers come upon a dormante mer, a sea without current.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In technical language dormant has qualified an object that does not move since 1366 (pont dormant, a fixed bridge as opposed to a drawbridge), and in seafaring the fixed part of a rope since 1678; in such uses it could be a noun from 1690.^[8][4] Middle French had voirre dormant, glass that could not be opened,^[10] and Cotgrave in 1611 still glosses fenestre à voirre dormant as a window that will not open.^[11]

Of a being that sleeps the adjective is rarer and later (17th century), except in set contexts such as the legend of the Seven Sleepers, les sept dormants, and Perrault's tale La Belle au bois dormant.^[8][12] By extension it describes still landscapes and hidden, latent feelings.^[13][4] Its botanical use, of a plant whose development is held back, led to the noun dormance in the 20th century.^[8][13]

Timeline

• c. 1112 – Eau dormante “still water” in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[3][2]
• 1366 – Pont dormant “fixed bridge”.^[4][8]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records eau dormante and fenestre à voirre dormant.^[11]
• 1674 – La Fontaine uses it of someone sleeping.^[3]
• 1678 – Used at sea for the fixed part of a rope.^[8]
• 1690 – Furetière records ligne dormante; the word is also used as a noun.^[3][8]
• 1835 – The Académie records dormant de table, a table centrepiece.^[13]
• 20th century – Dormance is coined in botany.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (rare) Asleep, sleeping: La Belle au bois dormant, “Sleeping Beauty”.^[4][13][12]
2. (heraldry) Of an animal, shown lying asleep: animal dormant.^[13][12]
3. (figurative) Latent, hidden, not yet roused: une colère dormante.^[4][13]
4. (literary) Undisturbed, motionless: des nuages dormants, and of water, still, stagnant: eau dormante.^[4][13]
5. (botany) In a state of dormance, dormant.^[4]
6. (technical) Fixed, not made to move or open: châssis dormant, pont dormant, also ligne dormante, a fishing line left in place.^[4][3]

Noun

1. (technical) The fixed frame of a door or window, into which the opening part fits.^[5][13]
2. (nautical) The standing part of a rope or rigging.^[13][5]
3. (dated) Dormant de table: a table centrepiece left in place throughout the meal.^[13][14]

Word family

• dormance

Related words

• dormir
• dormeur
• Latin dormiō

Usage notes

Old French also used dormant as a noun for sleep, especially in en son dormant, “in one's sleep”, as in Joinville.^[9] Les sept dormants are the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, walled up in a cave under the emperor Decius.^[13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 140a
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
10. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
11. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip
12. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
14. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF