féminin

Forms

féminin (feminine féminine, masculine plural féminins, feminine plural féminines)^[1] Old French femenin;^[2][3][4] also femelin.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fēminīnus (“feminine, of a woman”), also “of the feminine gender” in grammar,^[2][6][1] from fēmina (“woman”), the source of femme.^[4][7][3] The first form, Old French femenin, was remade on the Latin in the 13th century.^[3][4] Etymonline traces the Latin noun to a root meaning “to suck”, as “she who suckles”.^[8]

Cognate with Old Occitan femenin, Spanish femenino and Italian femminino.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as femenin about 1165 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie, meaning “having the character of a woman”.^[2][3] The GLLF's earliest record is in the Chanson d'Aspremont (about 1188).^[7]

Semantic evolution

Its two Latin values came in one after the other: “of or like a woman” about 1165, and the grammatical gender in the 14th century, when it was also used as a noun.^[3][2] The 12th-century Maccabees has pense feminine for a woman's mind, and Charles d'Orléans praises a lady's port femenin.^[5] By extension it describes what is held to be typical of women, often as a stereotype; in the 20th century it came to mean “of or for women” and “made up of women”, as in magazine féminin or équipe féminine.^[3][9]

English feminine is recorded in the mid-14th century, from Old French femenin.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Femenin in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie.^[2][3]
• c. 1188 – Used in the Chanson d'Aspremont.^[7]
• 13th century – The spelling feminin appears.^[3][4]
• 14th century – Used as a grammatical noun.^[2][3]
• Mid-14th century – English feminine is recorded.^[8]
• 1832 – Balzac uses the adverb fémininement.^[2]
• 20th century – “Of or for women”, “made up of women”.^[3][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Proper to women; feminine: le charme féminin.^[9][5]
2. Of the female sex; female: le sexe féminin, les personnages féminins d'un roman.^[9][1]
3. Having the qualities associated with women: elle est très féminine; of a man, effeminate: des traits un peu féminins.^[9][5]
4. Of, by or for women: l'électorat féminin, un magazine féminin.^[9]
5. Made up of women: une équipe féminine.^[9]
6. (grammar) Of the feminine gender: un nom féminin.^[9][5]
7. (versification) Rime féminine: a rhyme ending in a mute e.^[9]

Noun

1. (grammar) The feminine gender: ce mot est du féminin, mettre un adjectif au féminin.^[9][1]
2. L'éternel féminin: the traits traditionally held to be permanent in women's character.^[9]

Word family

• fémininement

Related words

• femelle
• féminiser
• féminisme
• féministe
• femme
• féminité
• Latin fēminīnus
• English feminine

References

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