Etymologically
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faillir

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fa.jiʁ/[1]

Forms

faillir[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *falliō, a remaking of classical Latin fallō (“to deceive; to escape”), from which came the senses “to be lacking” and “to commit a fault”.[2][3][4] The Latin verb is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to a Germanic verb meaning “to fall” (compare English fall), as Rey and Littré suggest.[3][5] The stem ⟨faill-⟩, regular in the third person plural of the present and in the imperfect, spread to the infinitive and the participle; forms with ⟨fau-⟩ in the present and future lasted until the 19th century.[2][3][4] In the 15th century the verb split in two, giving falloir.[3][6] Cognate with Italian fallire, Catalan fallir and Spanish fallecer (“to die”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1040) has the future faldrat, of a person failing someone; the Chanson de Roland has Falt li le coer, “his heart fails him”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

About 1165 Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for failing in a duty, and, from the 12th century it meant “to commit a fault” and “to be mistaken”, until the classical period.[2][3] The impersonal petit s'en faillit, it nearly happened, is in the 13th century, and, from it came, in the 16th century, faillir à or de, “to come close to” (Amyot, 1559: il faillit à lui couper la main).[4][2] This survives in the compound past with an infinitive, j'ai failli oublier (1757), the most common modern use;[3][7] faillir à son devoir and le cœur me faut are literary.[3][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1040 – Faldrat in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1100 – Falt li le coer in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1165 – “To fail in a duty”, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • 15th century – The split into faillir and falloir.[3]
  • 1559 – “To come close to”, in Amyot.[2]
  • 1757 – J'ai failli with an infinitive.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Avoir failli + infinitive: to have nearly done or undergone something: j'ai failli tomber.[8][9]
  2. (literary) Faillir à: to fail in, neglect: faillir à son devoir.[7][8]
  3. (literary) To fail someone: le cœur me faut.[7][3]
  4. (dated) To commit a fault; to be mistaken.[8][9]
  5. Sans faillir: without fail.[5]

Word family

  • défaillir

Usage notes

Wiktionary also records a verb faillir “to go bankrupt”, formed from faillite.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)