Etymologically
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fin

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French has two words spelled fin, the noun “end” and the adjective “fine”, both from Latin finis but separated early.[1][2][3]

fin1 end

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɛ̃/[3]
  • IPA (Quebec): [fẽ][3]

Forms

fin f (plural fins)[3]

Etymology

The noun “end” is inherited from Old French fin, inherited from Latin fīnis (“boundary; limit; end; aim”).[4][5][6][7] The Latin word, of unknown origin, first meant the boundary of a field and, in the plural, a frontier (see confins); figuratively it meant “end, aim”, translating Ancient Greek τέλος (télos) in philosophy, and “the highest degree of something”.[5] The verb finir is a remaking (13th century), after “fin”, of Old French fenir, from Latin fīniō.[5]

Cognate with Italian fine, Catalan fi, Spanish fin and Portuguese fim.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the second half of the 10th century in the Passion of Clermont, of the end of life, and about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis: Ço peiset mei que ma fins tant demoret “it grieves me that my end is so slow in coming”.[4][2][10]

Semantic evolution

From the end of life the word spread to the last part of anything (1080) and to the point where something stops (about 1283), whence the plural fins “frontiers” (13th century to the late 17th).[5] Adverbial phrases include à la fin (1273), sans fin and, figuratively, faire une fin “to settle down, marry” (late 17th century).[5]

About 1300 it took the sense “goal, aim” (qui veut la fin veut les moyens), with a legal use from 1462 and fin de non-recevoir from 1549.[4][5] In Quebec la fin de semaine “the weekend” is distinguished from la fin de la semaine, which avoids the anglicism week-end, aux fins de “in order to” is administrative, and frequent in Belgium.[5]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 10th century – Fin “death” in the Passion of Clermont.[4]
  • c. 1050 – Ma fins in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2][10]
  • 1080 – The last part of something, in the Chanson de Roland.[5][10]
  • 1273 – À la fin.[5]
  • c. 1300 – “Aim, goal”.[4][5]
  • 1462 – A legal term, in an ordinance of Louis XI.[4]
  • 1549 – Fin de non-recevoir.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The end of something in time: la fin de l'année, à la fin.[8][11]
  2. The end or limit of something in space: la fin du chemin.[8]
  3. The last part of something: la fin d'un livre.[11]
  4. death: sentir venir sa fin; ruin, failure.[11][8]
  5. An aim, a purpose: la fin justifie les moyens, à cette fin.[3][11]

Word family

fin2 fine

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɛ̃/[3]
  • IPA (Quebec): [fẽ][3]

Forms

fin (feminine fine, masculine plural fins, feminine plural fines)[3]

Etymology

The adjective comes from the same inherited from Latin fīnis used as an adjective, from its figurative sense “the extreme point, the highest degree”: from Cicero on “fīnis” named the most perfect part of something, as in “fīnis bonōrum” “the highest good”.[6][5][1] Medieval Latin had fīnus (“refined”).[5] The transition survives in “le fin fond” and “le fin mot”, and in the adverbial “fin prêt”, “fin seul”.[6] Diez, followed by Littré, derived it instead from fīnītus (“finished, perfect”), shortened, Wiktionary calls its origin unclear.[2][3]

Cognate with Italian fino and Old Occitan fin (“pure, accomplished”); German fein and English fine came from French.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (1080), of what is perfect, as or fin “pure gold”.[1][5]

Semantic evolution

Old French used it of anything flawless: fin or, fine amor (courtly love), fine verité.[2][5] Of metals it gave du fin “pure silver” (12th century) and or fin; later fines herbes (1829, earlier herbes fines, 1690) and la fine, a fine brandy (1877).[5] From the mid-13th century it meant “sharp, keen”, then “cunning” (about 1320, un fin renard) and “skilful” (1770, un fin joueur).[5]

The sense “very small” appears in 1432, “thin” in 1450 and “sharp-pointed” in 1690.[5] In Quebec fin means “clever” and also “kind, nice”.[5][3]

Timeline

  • 1080 – Or fin in the Chanson de Roland.[5]
  • c. 1176 – The adverb finement.[5]
  • Mid-13th century – “Keen, sharp”.[5]
  • c. 1320 – “Cunning”.[5]
  • 1432 – “Very small”.[5]
  • 1450 – “Thin”.[5]
  • 1507 – Le fin fond.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the highest quality, pure: or fin, vins fins.[5][8]
  2. Very thin, slender; made of very small particles: sable fin, pluie fine.[3][5]
  3. delicate, refined: des traits fins.[8]
  4. Sharp, keen; shrewd, cunning: une fine mouche, jouer au plus fin.[5][12]
  5. Utmost, innermost: le fin fond, le fin mot de l'histoire.[5]
  6. (Quebec) Kind, nice.[3][5]

Adverb

  1. Completely: fin prêt.[5]

Word family

  • finement
  • finesse
  • finasser
  • finaud
  • fignoler
  • affiner
  • raffiner
  • superfin
  • surfin

References

  1. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 560a
  8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF