Etymologically
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foire

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French has two words foire: “fair”, from Late Latin feria, and the vulgar “diarrhoea”, from Latin foria.[1][2][3][4]

foire1 fair

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fwaʁ/[4]

Forms

foire f (plural foires)[4] Old French feire (about 1130), foire from the 13th century.[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French feire, inherited from Late Latin fēria (“market, fair”), from classical Latin fēriae (“days of rest, holidays”), since fairs were held on religious feast days (the Roman “feriae novendiales” were a market every ninth day).[7][5][1][8] Medieval Latin kept “feria” for the fair (8th–9th centuries).[7][5] “Feriae” belongs to an Indo-European root of religious value found only in Italic (see férie, férié).[5]

Compare Italian fiera, Spanish feria, Catalan fira, Old Occitan feira and Portuguese feira, which means a weekday.[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Eneas (about 1130–1160) has feire, a great public market;[7][6] Wace's Roman de Rou says the court of Richard was always like a fair or a market.[3]

Semantic evolution

A foire was a large market held on fixed dates and places, especially in the country, and later, with industry, a large trade show (early 20th century, also foire-exposition).[5][6] Phrases include s'entendre comme larrons en foire (1650), foire franche (1745), champ de foire and foire aux puces.[6] From the idea of festivity it took the sense of a local funfair (late 19th century), whence hercule de foire and faire la foire “to live it up”, Old French mettre son corps en foire meant to prostitute oneself.[5][6] From 1922 it is also a noisy, disorderly place.[5][2]

The word is linked in meaning with forain, which it probably influenced, foirail (1864) is the fairground in the south.[5] In Mauritius a foire is a weekly market.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1130 – Feire in Eneas.[6]
  • 13th century – The form foire.[5]
  • 1650 – Comme larrons en foire.[6]
  • 1676 – “A present from the fair”, in Mme de Sévigné.[10]
  • 1745 – Foire franche.[6]
  • 1864 – Foirail.[5]
  • Late 19th century – A funfair.[5]
  • 1922 – “A noisy place”.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fair, market: foire aux bestiaux, champ de foire.[2][11]
  2. A trade fair, exhibition: la foire de Leipzig.[2][11]
  3. A funfair: la foire du Trône.[2][11]
  4. (familiar) A bedlam, shambles, faire la foire: to live it up.[11][5]
  5. Phrases: s'entendre comme larrons en foire: to be as thick as thieves, foire d'empoigne: free-for-all, foire aux questions: FAQ.[2][4]

Word family

  • foirail
  • forain

foire2 diarrhoea

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fwaʁ/[4]

Forms

foire f (plural foires)[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin foria (“diarrhoea”),[7][5][1][12] a word of obscure origin.[5] Compare Old Occitan foira and Norman “foure”.[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The parody Audigier (late 12th century) has foire; a feire in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165) is uncertain, since another manuscript reads l'afaire.[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The word is vulgar and old-fashioned, surviving mainly in the familiar avoir la foire “to be scared” (1865), compare avoir la colique.[5][11] The verb foirer (1576) is now used of a charge that hangs fire (about 1600) and, from 1865, of anything that fails, foireux (late 12th century) has come to mean “cowardly” (1388) and “worthless, botched” (1872).[5] Enfoiré (1905), long vulgar, was popularised by Coluche in the 1980s as a familiar term of address.[5]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Foire in Audigier, foiroux.[7][5]
  • 1576 – Foirer.[5]
  • 1865 – Avoir la foire “to be scared”.[5]
  • 1872 – Foireux “botched”.[5]
  • 1905 – Enfoiré.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (vulgar, dated) Diarrhoea: avoir la foire.[2][7]
  2. (very familiar, dated) Fear.[11][7]
  3. (slang) A mess, botch-up.[4]

Word family

  • foirer
  • foireux
  • enfoiré

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 f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 462b
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 711a