entamer

Forms

entamer^[1] Old French also entanpner, and Anglo-Norman entamier and entamir.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French entamer, inherited from Late Latin intāminō (“to defile, profane”).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The Latin verb is formed with the prefix in- on *tāminō (“to defile”), seen also in contāminō, and it is probably connected with tangō (“to touch”).^[4][6][9] Bloch and Wartburg reason that the root meaning of touching must have led from “defile” to “touch” and then to “take a part of something”, comparing Latin attāminō, which meant both “to lay hands on, steal” and “to dishonour”.^[7]

Littré, following Diez, preferred this verb “to lay hands on” as the source, rejecting Ancient Greek ἐντέμνω (entémnō, “to cut into”) and a Celtic origin.^[2] Old Occitan had the related entamenar;^[7] Wiktionary derives the French word from it.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan entamar (“to cut into”), Walloon edamer and several southern Italian dialect verbs.^[10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded between 1120 and 1150 in the poem Grant mal fist Adam: Entamat le fruit “[Adam] broke into the fruit”, in the sense “to take a part of something still whole”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “to take a part of something intact”, was soon joined by “to cut into (part of the body)” by incision (about 1155, in Wace), and in the 13th century by cutting bark or leather.^[6][9] From the idea of breaking into something whole, entamer une femme meant “to deflower” in the early 14th century.^[6]

Abstract uses followed: entamer quelqu'un meant “to damage someone's reputation” (about 1190), then “to affect” (13th to 17th century) and “to encroach on someone's rights” (about 1460).^[6] The figurative sense “to begin, undertake” (a speech, a piece of work) is recorded from about 1245 and is still current.^[6][4] From about 1460 the verb was used in war for breaking into an enemy's position, and in argument for shaking someone's convictions.^[6][9] In 1580 Montaigne has the sense “to reduce a whole by taking part of it”, as with supplies or a day, which has become the most usual one.^[6][9]

The Anglo-Norman verb passed into Middle English as entamen.^[3]

Timeline

• 1120–1150 – First record, in Grant mal fist Adam, of taking part of something still intact.^[4][6]
• c. 1155 – Wace uses it for cutting into the body.^[9][6]
• c. 1190 – Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it of harming someone's reputation.^[9][6]
• c. 1245 – Philippe Mousket's chronicle has the sense “to begin”.^[4][6]
• c. 1283 – Beaumanoir uses it of beginning proceedings.^[9][2]
• c. 1370 – The derived noun entame appears, meaning “wound”.^[6]
• c. 1460 – Georges Chastellain uses it of breaking into an enemy's position.^[9][6]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it for reducing a whole by taking a part.^[9][6]
• 1785 – Sade uses the adjective inentamable “that cannot be broken into”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cut into by incision, to wound slightly: la lame lui a entamé le pouce.^[11][12][4]
2. To cut the first piece from something still whole: entamer un gâteau.^[11][13][2]
3. To reduce a whole by using part of it: entamer ses économies.^[11][13]
4. (card games) To lead a suit, playing its first card.^[11][9][1]
5. Of a substance, to eat into or wear away: rust entame iron.^[9][11]
6. (military) To break into an enemy line or position.^[11][9]
7. (figurative) To undermine or shake (confidence, convictions).^[11][1]
8. (dated) Entamer quelqu'un: to harm someone's reputation, or to begin to win someone over.^[11][2]
9. To begin, initiate: entamer des pourparlers, une conversation.^[11][1]

Word family

• entame
• rentamer
• entamure
• inentamable

Related words

• contaminer
• intact
• entier
• Latin tangō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 731b
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)