fuite

Forms

fuite f (plural fuites)^[1] Old French fuie (about 1135), replaced by fuite from about 1200.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman spellings include feute, fuyte and fwite.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fuie (“flight”), inherited from Vulgar Latin *fugita, remade at the end of the 12th century on the model of suite.^[2][3][1] The Vulgar Latin noun is the feminine, used as a noun, of *fugitus, the past participle of fugiō (“to flee”) in its Late Latin form.^[3][6][4][7] Bloch and Wartburg likewise derive it from a participle of fuir that disappeared early.^[8]

Littré instead took the Old French word to be the regular outcome of Latin fuga (“flight”), and the modern one to come from the old past participle of the verb.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Jean Bodel's Jeu de saint Nicolas (1200) it is used in estre tous jours a le fuite, of someone always quick on his feet to slip away.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century the word also meant, figuratively, a way of dodging a difficulty, an evasion: the Assises de Jérusalem (before 1270) list the fuites that could be used in court.^[2][3][9] The phrases prendre la fuite (1640, Corneille) and mettre en fuite (1648, Scarron) are recorded in the 17th century, when Pascal also wrote of the flight of time (before 1662).^[4][2][3]

After fuir in the sense “to leak”, fuite came to mean an escape of fluid through an opening (1845, fuite de gaz), and then the opening itself.^[3][2] Its use, mostly in the plural, for secret documents that reach the outside spread from 1899, during the Dreyfus affair.^[3][2][10] In painting and geometry it has been used since 1802, as in point de fuite.^[3][2]

In law there is the délit de fuite, and in slang the word meant an escape from prison (1898) and a conscript's discharge (about 1905).^[3] The figurative phrase fuite en avant (1968) is the speeding up of a political or economic process.^[3][10] The familiar verb fuiter “to leak” was derived from it.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1135 – The older form fuie is found in the Couronnement de Louis.^[2][3]
• 1200 – Fuite appears in Jean Bodel's Jeu de saint Nicolas.^[2][3]
• Before 1270 – The Assises de Jérusalem use it for an evasion in court.^[2][9]
• 1640 – Prendre la fuite is found in Corneille.^[4]
• 1648 – Mettre en fuite is found in Scarron.^[4]
• Before 1662 – Pascal uses it of the passing of time.^[2][3]
• 1802 – It is used of convergence in perspective.^[2][3]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records fuite de gaz.^[2][3]
• 1899 – Clemenceau uses it of secret documents that have got out.^[2][3]
• 1968 – Fuite en avant appears.^[3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of running away to escape someone or something, flight: prendre la fuite, mettre en fuite.^[10][4] Être en fuite: to be on the run.^[10][4][1]
2. (law) Délit de fuite: the offence of a driver who knowingly drives on after an accident, hit-and-run.^[10][3]
3. Fuite en avant: the speeding up of a process, political or economic, that is thought necessary although risky.^[10][3]
4. (figurative) A way of dodging a difficulty or a duty, an evasion.^[10][2]
5. A movement away or outflow: la fuite des capitaux, la fuite des cerveaux “the brain drain”.^[10][1] La fuite du temps: the passing of time.^[10][1]
6. A leak of a fluid through a narrow or hidden opening, such as une fuite d'eau or une fuite de gaz, and the opening itself.^[10][1]
7. (figurative) The leaking of documents or information meant to stay secret.^[10][3]
8. (perspective) Point de fuite: the vanishing point.^[10][3]

Word family

• fuiter

Related words

• fugitif
• fuyard
• fuir
• fuie
• Latin fugiō

Usage notes

The older form survives as fuie, a regional word for a small dovecote, recorded from 1278.^[2][3][8]

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 k l m n o p q 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 g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 838a
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert