douze

Forms

douze (invariable)^[1] Old French duze (Chanson de Roland) and doze.^[2][1] Littré also quotes doce.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French doze, inherited from Vulgar Latin *dodeci, a contraction of Latin duodecim (“twelve”).^[4][2][1][5] The Latin numeral is formed from duo (“two”) and decem (“ten”),^[2][6] after the model of Ancient Greek δώδεκα (dṓdeka), according to Rey.^[2]

Cognate with Italian dodici, Occitan dotze, Catalan dotze, Spanish doce and Portuguese doze.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as duze in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), in li duze per, the twelve peers of Charlemagne.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Villehardouin (about 1207) uses li douze as a noun for the twelve electors of the emperor.^[3][8] As an ordinal, “twelfth”, the numeral is recorded in the 16th century by the GLLF and in Furetière (1690) by the TLFi.^[8][4][2] The printing term in-douze, for a book whose sheets are folded into twelve leaves, dates from 1666.^[2][9]

The derivatives are douzième (late 11th century, dudzime), douzaine (late 12th century) and douzain (1480), a poem of twelve lines.^[2][9] Douzaine was borrowed as Italian dozzina, German Dutzend and English dozen.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Li duze per, in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• Late 11th century – Dudzime, the ordinal.^[2]
• Late 12th century – Douzaine.^[2][9]
• c. 1207 – Li douze, in Villehardouin.^[3]
• 1480 – Douzain.^[2]
• 1666 – In-douze.^[2][9]
• 1690 – The ordinal use, in Furetière.^[4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. twelve: les douze apôtres, les douze mois de l'année.^[10][3]
2. (ordinal) twelfth: page douze, Louis douze, Louis XII.^[3][8]

Noun

1. The number twelve; the figure 12.^[8][10]
2. The twelfth day of the month: il arrive le douze.^[8]
3. The house, room or competitor numbered twelve.^[8]
4. (printing) A size of type of twelve points.^[11][8]

Word family

• douzaine
• douzième
• douzain
• in-douze

Related words

• deux
• dix
• Latin duodecim

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 182a
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF