Etymologically
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fixer

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fik.se/[1]

Forms

fixer[1]

Etymology

It is from French fixe + -er, from the adjective fixe.[2][3][4][5][6] “Fixe” (13th century, written “fix”, rare before the 16th century) is borrowed from Latin fīxus (“fixed”), past participle of fīgō (“to fix, fasten”).[4][1] The slang “se fixer” “to inject drugs” (about 1970) is from English fix.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert date it to 1330; the GLLF finds it in 1340 in the sense “to tax someone”.[4][3][5] Raoul de Presles (1371–75) has étoiles fixees, the fixed stars.[2]

Semantic evolution

Fixer les yeux is in Octavien de Saint-Gelais (15th century), whence fixer qqn “to stare at someone” in Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloïse (1760), a use Voltaire condemned.[2] Montaigne (1580) has it for settling something, and Racine (1672) for determining: le combat doit, dit-on, fixer nos destinées.[5][2] Furetière (1690) records several senses, and fastening an object in place is in Bossuet (before 1669); fixer son domicile is to settle somewhere.[5] In the 1970s drug slang took up se fixer from English.[3]

Timeline

  • 1330 – First recorded.[4]
  • 1371–75 – Étoiles fixees.[2]
  • 15th century – Fixer les yeux.[2]
  • 1580 – To settle, Montaigne.[5]
  • 1672 – To determine, Racine.[2]
  • 1760 – Fixer qqn, Rousseau.[2]
  • c. 1970 – Se fixer, drug slang.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fix, fasten, attach: fixer un cadre au mur.[1][5]
  2. To settle, establish: fixer sa résidence à Lyon, se fixer, to settle down.[5][1]
  3. To set, decide on (a date, a price, a rule): fixer un rendez-vous, fixer les conditions.[1][2]
  4. To stare at: fixer qqn, fixer les yeux sur.[1][2]
  5. To hold, make steady: fixer l'attention.[5]
  6. (slang) Se fixer: to inject drugs.[3]

Word family

  • fixation
  • fixage
  • fixateur
  • fixatif
  • fixe
  • fixité
  • Latin fīxus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette