empêchement

Forms

empêchement m (plural empêchements)^[1] Old French empeechement and empecquement, Middle French empeschement.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from French empêcher + -ment.^[3][4][5][1] The verb, first Old French empeechier, is from Late Latin impedicō (“to catch in a snare”), adapted as prêcher was.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Saint Thomas Becket (1174–1176) uses it for what stands in the way, an obstacle or hindrance.^[3][6] Littré begins the word's history with empedementz in the 10th-century Sequence of Saint Eulalia.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “obstacle” has been current since the 12th century.^[6] It was soon used in law, as in empêchement de mariage (1430), a missing condition that the law sets for a marriage.^[3][6][7] From 1530 it also denoted what keeps someone from being present or available, the everyday sense of avoir un empêchement.^[6][8] Cotgrave records it in 1611 for impotence, and in the early 20th century it was used for a state of embarrassment.^[8]

In French constitutional law it denotes the premature interruption of the president's mandate, as judged by the Conseil constitutionnel.^[9]

Timeline

• 1174–1176 – Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it for an obstacle.^[3]
• 1430 – Empêchement de mariage appears in the Quinze Joies de mariage.^[3][6]
• 1530 – It denotes what keeps one from being available.^[6]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “impotence”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something that prevents an action or a plan, an obstacle or hitch: un empêchement de dernière minute.^[7][9][1]
2. (law) Empêchement de mariage: the absence of a condition the law requires for marriage, either dirimant (making the marriage void) or prohibitif.^[7][2]
3. (politics) The premature interruption of a president's term of office.^[9]
4. (literary) A state of embarrassment or embarrassment.^[8]

Related words

• empêcher
• dépêcher
• Late Latin impedicō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)