Etymologically
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enceinte

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enceinte1 enclosure

Pronunciation

  • /ɑ̃.sɛ̃t/[1]

Forms

enceinte f (plural enceintes)[1] The older form was Old French aceinte (12th century).[2][3]

Etymology

The enclosure is the feminine past participle of enceindre used as a noun.[4][5] It remade the older Old French aceinte, the participle of aceindre, by a change of prefix;[2][3] the Old French verb was a compound of ceindre with the prefix a-, remade after Latin incingō (“to surround”),[2][3] from in- and cingō (“to gird, encircle”).[1] Meyer-Lübke lists it among the derivatives of the Latin verb, beside Catalan ensink.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1284, in Jean de Meun's Establissemens de Chevalerie (his translation of Vegetius), for what surrounds a space and closes it off.[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word came to mean the enclosed space itself, recorded by Cotgrave in 1611, and in particular a line of fortifications (1704).[2][3] It was used for a domain in the 17th century and for a large closed hall from 1835.[3] In hunting Ronsard already used faire son enceinte for surrounding the game.[8] About 1960 enceinte acoustique, a loudspeaker cabinet, appeared, competing with the anglicism baffle.[3][2]

Timeline

  • 12th century – The older form aceinte.[2]
  • 1284 – Enceinte in Jean de Meun, for what encloses a space.[2]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “enclosed space”.[2]
  • 1704 – A line of fortifications.[3]
  • 1835 – A large closed hall.[3]
  • 1961 – Enceinte acoustique is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wall, rampart or other barrier that surrounds a space and guards access to it: mur d'enceinte.[5][9]
  2. The space so enclosed; the inside of a hall or building: l'enceinte du tribunal.[5][9][1]
  3. A loudspeaker cabinet (enceinte acoustique).[9][1]

enceinte2 pregnant

Pronunciation

  • /ɑ̃.sɛ̃t/[1]

Forms

enceinte (adjective, feminine only; plural enceintes)[10][5]

Etymology

The adjective “pregnant” is inherited from Late Latin incīncta (“girdled”),[3][4] recorded in the 7th century by Isidore of Seville.[11] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF take it to be the feminine past participle of Latin incingō (“to gird”), the pregnant woman feeling hampered as if by bonds;[11][7] Littré, following Isidore, read the prefix as privative, “without a girdle”.[8]

Cognate with Italian incinta, Old Occitan encencha and Spanish encinta.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF finds it about 1160 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure for a woman with child, and the Grand Robert dates it about 1165;[7][4] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary has it from the first third of the 12th century.[12]

Semantic evolution

Old French also used a masculine form, as in ventre enceint, still found now and then in the 19th and 20th centuries.[3] The adjective became the usual word as grosse came to be felt as inelegant.[3] Littré notes the form enceintée in the Laws of William,[8] and Anglo-Norman texts distinguish a woman heavily pregnant from one whose pregnancy does not yet show.[12]

Timeline

  • 7th century – Late Latin incincta in Isidore of Seville.[11]
  • c. 1160 – Enceinte in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[7]
  • c. 1138 – The derived verb enceinter, first “to become pregnant”.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. pregnant: être enceinte de trois mois, être enceinte de quelqu'un.[10][5]
  2. (familiar) Enceinte jusqu'aux yeux: very near the end of her pregnancy.[5]

Word family

  • enceinter
  • enceindre
  • ceindre
  • ceinture

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  12. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)