frein

Forms

frein m (plural freins)^[1] Old French and Anglo-Norman frein, frain, fren and freyn.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French frein, inherited from Latin frēnum (“bridle, bit, curb (literal and figurative)”).^[4][1][5][6] Rey derives the Latin word from frendō (“to crush, grind”).^[7]

Cognate with Italian freno, Spanish freno, Portuguese freio, Occitan fre and Catalan fre.^[8][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it names the part of the bridle put in a horse's mouth to guide it, the bit: Li frein sont d'or “the bits are of gold”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the word was used figuratively from Old French on (1172, Chrétien de Troyes) for whatever holds something back: le frein de la loi, sans frein “without limits”.^[4][7] The horse's bit survives in the figurative ronger son frein “to contain one's impatience or anger”, like a restless horse champing the bit (early 15th century, Charles d'Orléans).^[7][10]

By likeness of function, anatomy uses it from 1690 for a fold or ligament that holds an organ, as le frein de la langue “the frenulum of the tongue”.^[4][7] The sense of a device that slows or stops a moving mechanism appears first in milling (1680, the brake of a mill wheel), then for the wheels of carriages and later (late 19th century) of motor vehicles.^[4][7] From it came coup de frein and frein moteur (20th century), and freiner and freinage in the 1890s.^[7][10]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Frein “bit” in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• 1172 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it figuratively, in Yvain.^[4][7]
• Early 15th century – Ronger son frein is first recorded, in Charles d'Orléans.^[10][7]
• 1680 – Richelet records it in milling for a brake.^[4]
• 1690 – Furetière records frein de la langue in anatomy.^[4]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the brake of a vehicle.^[10]
• 1892 – The derivative freinage “braking” appears.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) The bit of a bridle, put in a horse's mouth to hold and guide it.^[11][4][1]
2. Ronger son frein: to contain one's impatience or anger with difficulty.^[11][3]
3. (figurative, literary) Something that slows or hinders a development, a curb: mettre un frein à “to curb”, sans frein “unbridled”.^[11][10]
4. A brake, a device that slows or stops a vehicle or machine: frein à main, frein à disque, coup de frein.^[11][10][1]
5. (anatomy) A frenulum, a fold that restrains an organ: le frein de la langue.^[4][1]

Word family

• freinage
• freiner
• effréné

Related words

• refréner
• Latin frēnum

Usage notes

Littré has a separate old nautical word frein, the waves that break against an obstacle, which he derives from fraindre, from Latin frangō (“to break”); it is quoted in the 16th century from d'Aubigné.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 774b
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert