enfermer

Forms

enfermer^[1] Old French enfermer, anfermer, also enfremer.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from French en- + fermer.^{[2][4][5][1][6]} The verb fermer continues Latin firmō (“to make firm, strengthen”), from firmus (“firm”); it meant “to make firm, fortify” before “to close”, a sense that appears in the 12th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marie de France's Lais (about 1170) has it in the sense “to put in a completely closed place”: En un cofre les anfermat “she shut them in a chest”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The idea is the removal of any way out: one shuts a person in to stop them leaving, or a thing to put it away, or one surrounds a piece of ground with hedges or walls (1538).^[8][2] From this came “to surround (an enemy)” (Corneille, 1640), now obsolete, and “to contain, include” (Corneille, 1635).^[2][8] Thomas Corneille (1656) uses it without object for locking someone up as mad.^[2] The figurative use is recorded in 1851 and the reflexive s'enfermer dans le silence before 1778; in a race, enfermer a rival (1910) is to box him in.^[8][9]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – “To shut in”, Marie de France.^[2]
• 1538 – “To enclose (land)”, Robert Estienne.^[2]
• 1549 – The derivative enfermement.^[8]
• 1635 – “To contain”, Corneille.^[2]
• 1640 – “To surround”, Corneille.^[2]
• 1656 – “To shut up in an asylum”.^[2]
• 1910 – In racing, “to box in”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shut in, lock up (a person or animal): enfermer un oiseau dans une cage; to imprison; to commit (to an asylum).^[5][1]
2. To put away (a thing) in a closed place: enfermer des papiers dans un tiroir.^[9][5]
3. (literary) To enclose, surround; to contain.^[1][2]
4. (sport) To box in (a competitor).^[8][9]
5. S'enfermer: to shut oneself in, (figurative) to retreat into: s'enfermer dans le silence.^[5][8]

Word family

• enfermement
• renfermer
• renfermé

Related words

• fermer
• ferme

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert 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. 3, 574a
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse