Etymologically
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enfant

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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

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