famine

Forms

famine f (plural famines)^[1] The earliest form is famire, rhyming in Wace (1130–1140 and about 1150); famine appears in 1155.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also has famin and famyne.^[4]

Etymology

It is a derivative from Latin famēs (“hunger”), formed on the stem of the Latin noun with the suffix -ine.^[2][3][5][1] The same Latin word gave faim.^[6][7] Littré and Etymonline posit a Latin *famina as the base.^[8][9]

Littré cites dialect forms such as Burgundian fameigne and Picard fameine, and Occitan famina.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Wace's Conception Notre Dame (1130–1140), in the form famire, and as famine in his Brut (1155).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named a general lack of food in a town or country.^[2][8] From the 16th to the 18th century it also meant simple hunger, a use that survives in crier famine and salaire de famine.^[6][10] In the French of the Sahel it names the lean season between two harvests.^[6] English took it as famine in the mid-14th century.^[9]

Timeline

• 1130–1140 – Wace writes famire in the Conception Notre Dame.^[2]
• 1155 – The form famine appears in Wace's Brut.^[2]
• Mid-14th century – English borrows it as famine.^[9]
• 16th–18th century – It is also used for hunger in general.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A famine, a severe lack of food from which a whole population suffers.^[5][2]
2. Hunger, in set phrases: crier famine “to complain of one's poverty”, salaire de famine “a starvation wage”.^[5][10]

Related words

• faim
• affamer
• famélique
• Latin famēs
• English famine

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse