enfant

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɑ̃.fɑ̃/^[1]

Forms

enfant m or f by sense (plural enfants)^[1] Old French nominative enfes, accusative enfant.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French enfant, inherited from Latin īnfāns (“not speaking; young child”), accusative “īnfantem”, formed with the negative prefix in- and the present participle of for (“to speak”).^{[2][4][1][5][6]} The TLFi and Rey treat it as a very early borrowing of Latin “infans”, first written so in the “Vie de saint Léger” and then given the French prefix “en-”; the nominative “enfes” and the accusative “enfant” follow the Latin stress pattern.^[7][5][3] “For” goes back to an Indo-European root “*bhā-” “to speak”, also behind fable and fée.^[8][5]

In classical Latin “infans” meant a baby, then a young child; in Late Latin it also took over the roles of puer and puella (a boy or girl of about six to fifteen) and of līberī (children in relation to their parents).^[5][2][4] In the west and south-west of France dialect words such as “drôle” and “ménage” compete with it.^[2][9]

Cognate with Occitan enfant, Italian infante and Italian fante (“servant; foot soldier”), Spanish infante (“prince”) and Portuguese infante.^[2][9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the late 10th century in the Vie de saint Léger: Quant infans fud “when he was a child”.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century the word also named a young nobleman (1080), especially one serving as a page (15th century).^[5] It soon ceased to mean only a child who cannot yet speak and was applied to boys and girls up to adolescence (1080); a feminine enfante (about 1550) did not last.^[5][7] From the late 12th century it was used of grown people who behave childishly (tenir por enfant), whence faire l'enfant “to be capricious” (1607) and bon enfant “good-natured” (1560).^[5][10]

As a word of kinship it meant a son or daughter about 1050, a descendant in 1538 and, figuratively, a native of a town or milieu (15th century) and the product of something (1640, Corneille).^[7] Enfant perdu, a soldier sent ahead on a dangerous mission (15th century), was modelled on Italian fante perduto.^[2] English took infant from French in the 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• Late 10th century – Infans in the Vie de saint Léger.^[7]
• c. 1050 – “Son or daughter”, in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[7]
• 1080 – “Young nobleman”, in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• 1180–1190 – Tenir por enfant “to consider childish”.^[7]
• 1532 – A term of affection, in Rabelais.^[7]
• 1560 – Bon enfant.^[5]
• 1607 – Faire l'enfant “to be capricious”.^[10]
• 1640 – “Product, result”, in Corneille's Cinna.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A child, a boy or girl before adolescence.^[8][1]
2. A son or daughter, of any age: Ils ont trois enfants.^[1][7]
3. A childish or naive person: un grand enfant.^[5][7]
4. A native of a place or milieu: un enfant du pays.^[1][7]
5. (literary) A product, result: les enfants de son imagination.^[7]
6. Bon enfant: good-natured, easygoing.^[5][11]
7. Enfant de chœur: an altar boy.^[11][1]

Word family

• enfanter
• enfantin
• enfantement
• enfantillage
• fanfan

Related words

• enfance
• infantile
• infant
• Latin īnfāns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 658b
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse