guide

Forms

guide m (plural guides)^[1] Masculine and feminine: un guide, une guide (a woman guide, a girl guide).^[2] Old French had a separate agent noun, nominative guis, oblique guion.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan guida (“one who leads, guidance”), the noun of guidar (“to lead”), or from Italian guida, the noun of guidare (“to accompany”).^[5][6][7] The TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg derive the Occitan and Italian verbs from Gothic *widan, a verb attested only in a prefixed verb meaning "to bind, yoke together".^[5][4] The GLLF and Wiktionary point instead to Frankish *wītan (“to show the way”), from which Bloch and Wartburg derive the Old French verb guier.^[8][1][4][9] Meyer-Lübke notes that the ⟨i⟩ is hard to explain.^[10]

It supplanted guie (“leader, guide”) (13th century), the noun of that verb.^[5][6] Cognate with Spanish guía and Portuguese guia.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A feminine guide of 1287, perhaps meaning "leading, conduct", is uncertain.^[5] The first sure record is from 1370, in the accounts of the king of Navarre, still feminine, for a person who goes with someone to show the way.^[5][6] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has guide from about 1300.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the 15th century guide was also figurative, of someone or something that leads people through life.^[5][6] As an agent noun it could be feminine until the 17th century;^[5][4] Montaigne has the masculine in 1588.^[5][4] In the 16th century it also meant a guiding principle (1534, Rabelais).^[6][8]

As a book of advice it began with the title La Guide des chemins de France of Charles Estienne (1552), which seems to have been the first travellers' guide.^[5][6] In the 19th century the person became a specialist: the mountain guide (1821, or 1779 in Saussure) and the guide who shows visitors round a place of interest (1842), whence suivez le guide.^[6][12] The army had its guide, the soldier on whom the rank keeps its alignment (1825).^[6][8]

Applied to things, it named from the 17th century the reins of a horse (first in popular French, 1607), a joiner's tool guide (1676) and a part that directs a mechanical movement (1757); guide d'ondes is a term of electronics.^[6][5] The feminine une guide has meant a girl in the scout movement since 1930, whence guidisme (1960).^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – Anglo-Norman guide is recorded.^[11]
• 1370 – Guide (feminine) "person who shows the way" appears.^[5][6]
• 15th century – It is used figuratively for one who guides in life.^[5][6]
• 1552 – Charles Estienne's La Guide des chemins de France appears.^[5][6]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses it as a masculine noun.^[5]
• 1607 – The plural guides "reins" appears in popular French.^[6][2]
• 1757 – The Encyclopédie uses it for a mechanical guiding part.^[5]
• 1821 – First record of the mountain guide.^[6][12]
• 1842 – Balzac uses it for a guide to visitors.^[8][6]
• 1930 – Une guide "girl guide" is recorded.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who goes with others to show them the way and inform them, a guide: guide de montagne, a qualified professional mountaineer, and the guide of a museum or monument.^[2][13][14]
2. (military) The soldier on whom the rank regulates its alignment and march, also a local who guides an army in the field.^[2][3]
3. (figurative) A person who leads others in life or in affairs, a mentor: un guide spirituel.^[2][5]
4. A guiding principle: n'avoir d'autre guide que son intérêt.^[2][6]
5. A guidebook for travellers and tourists: un guide de Rome.^[2][1]
6. (feminine) A girl in the scout movement, a girl guide.^[2][5]
7. (feminine plural, les guides) The reins of a harnessed horse: tirer sur les guides.^[2] Mener la vie à grandes guides: to live lavishly.^[2][1]
8. (technical) A part that guides the movement of moving pieces.^[2] Guide d'ondes: a waveguide.^[2][5]

Word family

• guidisme

Related words

• guider
• Old Occitan guida

Usage notes

In the sense "reins" the word is feminine and plural, les guides, unlike the masculine guide "guide".^[2][5] It is not a separate word: the Petit Robert derives it from guider, and the DHLF treats it among the senses of guide applied to things.^[2][6] Guide was feminine in all senses until the 17th century, as in Estienne's title La Guide des chemins de France.^[5][6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 601b
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9528
11. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
13. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
14. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)