fondement

Forms

fondement m (plural fondements)^[1] Old French fundement;^[2] the Anglo-Norman spellings include fundament and foundement.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fundāmentum (“foundation, base, support”),^[2][4][5] a derivative of fundō (“to found”), the source of fonder.^[4][6] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word stayed in contact with written Latin;^[6] the sense “anus” comes from medical Latin, where the Latin word had it in Late Latin.^[4][6][2]

Cognate with Italian fondamento, Old Occitan fondamen, Catalan fonament and Spanish fundamento.^[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, as fundement in Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119), has the sense “anus”; the architectural sense follows about 1120 in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In building, fondement named the masonry on which a structure rests (about 1120); this use is now old-fashioned, and fondation has replaced it.^[4][2] By extension it came to mean whatever something rests on, from about 1174–1176,^[2] and in particular the ground of a body of knowledge or a belief, as in sans fondement “groundless”.^[4] The plural les fondements is used metaphorically for the bases of an institution, from about 1265 (Jean de Meun).^[4][9]

The sense “buttocks, anus” survives as a rare euphemism, like derrière.^[4] The English fundament comes from the Old French word.^[10]

Timeline

• 1119 – Fundement “anus” appears in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2]
• c. 1120 – The Oxford Psalter uses it of the foundation of a building.^[2][4]
• c. 1174–1176 – Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it for the base on which something rests.^[2]
• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun uses it figuratively for the basis of an institution or idea.^[9][4]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses the word in another figurative sense.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, usually plural) The foundations of a building, the masonry on which it stands.^[11][2]
2. (figurative, usually plural) The basis on which an institution, a state or a doctrine rests: jeter les fondements d'une république.^[11][2]
3. (usually singular) The ground that justifies a belief or a claim: sans fondement “unfounded”.^[11][4]
4. (euphemistic) The anus or the buttocks.^[4][1]

Related words

• fondamental
• fonder
• Latin fundāmentum
• English fundament

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 862b
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. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert