familier

Forms

familier (feminine familière, masculine plural familiers, feminine plural familières)^[1] Old French famelier (Wace); familier is a remaking of about 1240.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also had familer, famillier and famulier.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin familiāris (“belonging to the household, the family; friendly, intimate”),^[3][2][6][1] from familia (“household”) (famille).^[2][4][7] Its sense has moved away from that of the noun for family, which stresses blood kinship.^[2]

Littré compares Old Occitan familiar, Spanish familiar and Italian famigliare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174) has fameliers in the sense of one regarded as belonging to the family.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The first Latin sense, “of the household”, is now dated or literary for the adjective, and the noun “member of a household” (late 13th century) has gone out of use.^[2][3] The second sense, “close, intimate, a friend”, has lasted (adjective about 1240, noun in Oresme about 1370),^[3][2] with “living habitually with someone” from 1530.^[3] By extension it meant “simple, sociable” about 1265 and, in the 17th century, “too free in manner”.^[2]

From 1580 in Montaigne it meant “well known”, and in the 17th century “customary”.^[3][2] In 1680 Richelet applied it to language, a stile familier being one used naturally outside formal relations,^[3][2] and grammar now labels with it words used in ordinary talk but avoided in more careful speech, as distinct from populaire and vulgaire.^[2] The esprit familier, a spirit attached to a person, is recorded about 1566.^[4]

Timeline

• 1160–1174 – Wace writes fameliers in the Roman de Rou.^[3]
• c. 1240 – Used for “intimate, a friend”, in the form familier.^[3][2]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini uses familié for “simple, sociable”.^[4][2]
• c. 1370 – Oresme uses the noun for a close friend.^[3]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it of well-known books.^[3]
• 1680 – Richelet records stile familier.^[3]
• 1764 – The noun is used of familiar language.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Well known, of everyday experience: un visage familier.^[8][9]
2. Easy and informal in manner, sometimes too free.^[8][2]
3. (of animals) Living near people, tame: les animaux familiers.^[8][4]
4. (linguistics) Of a word or style, colloquial, used in ordinary conversation rather than in careful speech.^[2][1]
5. (dated) Treated as one of the family.^[8]

Noun

1. A close friend, someone treated as a member of the family: les familiers du prince.^[9][10]
2. A regular visitor of a place: les familiers d'un club.^[9][10]

Word family

• familièrement

Related words

• familiarité
• famille
• Latin familiāris

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)