faix

Forms

faix m (invariable)^[1] Old French fais; the spelling faix appears about 1360, in Froissart.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fais, inherited from Latin fascis (“bundle, burden”).^[5][1][6] The Latin sense of a bundle lived on in Old French until the 14th century, beside the sense of a load.^[7] Wiktionary traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- (“bundle, band”).^[1]

Cognate with Italian fascio, Occitan fais, Catalan feix, Spanish haz and Portuguese feixe.^[7][8][9] Related French words are faisceau and affaisser.^[10][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fais appears about 1100 in the Chanson de Roland, meaning a load or burden: Greignor fais porte par joc quand il s'enveise.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th century it was also used figuratively of a charge hard to bear, as in the Livre des Rois (about 1170) and in a life of Thomas Becket.^[2][4][8] The literal sense is now dated or literary and lives mainly in phrases such as plier sous le faix and succomber sous le faix, and poetically le faix des ans.^[2][10][8] In building it names the settling of a new house, said in ce bâtiment a pris son faix,^[8][10] and in forestry law faix à col was the offence of carrying off stolen wood on one's back.^[8]

The word entered the compounds portefaix (1270, portefays), surfaix (1542) and arrière-faix (1539).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Fais “load” in the Chanson de Roland.^[5][4]
• c. 1170 – Figurative use in the Livre des Rois.^[4]
• 1270 – The compound portefays “porter”.^[2]
• c. 1360 – Froissart spells it faix.^[2][4]
• 1539 – Arrière-faix appears.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated or literary) A heavy load, a burden hard to carry: plier sous le faix.^[10][5]
2. (figurative, literary) A weight that is hard to bear: le faix des ans.^[10][8]
3. (regional) A bundle of wood or plants, a fagot.^[5]
4. (building) The settling of a newly built house.^[10][8]

Word family

• affaisser
• arrière-faix
• portefaix

Related words

• faisceau
• fasce
• Latin fascis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 428b
7. ^ a b c d 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 h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert