fur

Forms

fur m (plural not attested)^[1] Old French fuer (about 1160) and feur (about 1268, still found in the early 17th century); the form fur is recorded from the 14th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fuer, inherited from Latin forum (“public square, marketplace”), with a particular development of the vowel.^{[2][3][5][1][6]} In popular Latin the word came to name the dealings done at the market, hence “agreement, law”,^[5][4] and in Medieval Latin it is attested in 744 with the sense “market price”.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg explain the vowel of the modern form by its survival in a fixed phrase after feur had dropped out as an independent word.^[5]

Cognate with Old Occitan for (“law, rate”), Spanish fuero and Italian foro.^[7][5] French for is the learned form of the same Latin word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is the figurative phrase a nul fuer “at no price, in no way” in the Roman d'Eneas (about 1160);^[2][3] Wace uses fuer for “price, rate” in the Roman de Rou (1160–1174).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French fuer or feur was a common legal and trading word for “rate, price”, chiefly in al fuer de “at the price of, at the rate of”;^[2][5] the Livre des métiers speaks of selling wine au feur lou roy “at the king's rate”.^[7] Dictionaries listed it as a word of its own until the 18th century, and Pothier still wrote au fur “at the rate of” in 1762.^[2][5]

From au fuer que “at the price that” came au feur que “in proportion as” (about 1306), then au fuer “in proportion” (second half of the 14th century, spelled au fur in 1561) and au feur de (Nicot, 1606).^[2][3] When fur was no longer understood, à mesure was added to spell out its meaning: Furetière records au fur et à mesure que in 1690.^[2][5][3] From the 17th to the 19th century à fur et à mesure and à fur et mesure were also used;^[3][7] the phrase spread into general use about the middle of the 19th century, together with the prepositional au fur et à mesure de.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – A nul fuer “at no price” appears in the Roman d'Eneas.^[2]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses fuer for “price, rate” and al fuer de “at the rate of”.^[2]
• c. 1268 – The form feur is recorded in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[4][7]
• c. 1306 – Au feur que “in proportion as” is first recorded.^[2][3]
• 14th century – The spelling fur appears.^[2]
• 1561 – Au fur “in proportion” is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1690 – Furetière records au fur et à mesure que.^[2][4]
• 1835 – The prepositional phrase au fur et à mesure de is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete, law) A rate or proportion; still used in Mayenne in Littré's time for the rate of the land tax.^[2][4][9]
2. Au fur et à mesure: progressively, at the same time and in proportion, or one after another.^[9][2][3]
3. Au fur et à mesure que: as, in proportion as: Je corrigerai les copies au fur et à mesure qu'on me les rendra.^[9][2]
4. Au fur et à mesure de: in step with: Les ouvriers étaient payés au fur et à mesure de l'avancement du chantier.^[9][3]

Related words

• for
• forum

Usage notes

The phrase is pleonastic, since à mesure repeats the meaning of fur.^[3][9] Claudel revived au fur de and au fur que without et à mesure as literary archaisms.^[2]

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 l m n o p q r s 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 737b
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert