Etymologically
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environ

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɑ̃.vi.ʁɔ̃/[1]

Forms

environ[1] Old French evirum (late 10th century), envirun (about 1100); remade as environ in the 12th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from en- and Old French viron (“turn, circle”),[2][3][4][1][5] a noun derived from virer “to turn” but attested only from about 1225, much later than the adverb itself.[2][3] That verb comes from Late Latin *vīrō, from Latin vibrō (“to make whirl”) by dissimilation of the labials.[6] Compare entour.[4][7]

Compare Old Occitan environ.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion of Clermont (late 10th century) has the adverb evirum “round about”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As a preposition, “around, near”, it is in the Chanson de Roland: Envirun lui plus de vint milie humes (“around him more than twenty thousand men”).[2][8] That use survives only in literary style of time (1340), as in environ cette époque.[3][7] The adverb took the sense “approximately” in 1273, now its usual meaning for times, distances, quantities and prices.[3][2]

The noun is first found in tout à l'environ (about 1280), then in the plural about 1460: les environs, “the surroundings”, and aux environs de (1552, of a place), criticized when used of time.[3][2] The verb environner is recorded as a participle about 1165, “arranged in a circle”, and as “to surround” about 1265.[3]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Adverb evirum “round about”.[2]
  • c. 1100 – Preposition “around”, in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1165 – Environné.[3]
  • 1273 – “Approximately”.[2]
  • c. 1280 – Tout à l'environ.[2]
  • c. 1460 – Les environs.[2]
  • 1552 – Aux environs de.[3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. About, approximately, around: il y a environ deux ans, un homme d'environ cinquante ans.[7][1]

Preposition

  1. (literary) About, around (a time): environ cette époque; formerly also near (a place).[7][9]

Noun

  1. Les environs (plural): the surroundings, the surrounding area, aux environs de, near, in the neighbourhood of.[1][3]

Word family

  • environner
  • environnement

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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 388b
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse