halener

Forms

halener^[1] Also spelled haleiner.^[2][3] Old French alener, aleiner and alainer.^[4][2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French alener, inherited from Vulgar Latin *alēnō, an alteration of Latin anhēlō (“to breathe with difficulty, exhale”) by metathesis of /n/ and /l/.^[2][4][5][1] The initial ⟨h⟩ is a spelling after hālō (“to exhale an odour, blow”).^[2][4][3] The GLLF analyses the Latin verb as an-, an intensive prefix, added to that verb.^[3] Littré, finding metathesis unusual, preferred to derive the French verb from the same Latin verb with a suffix ⟨-ena⟩.^[6]

Cognate with Italian alenare, Catalan alenar and Occitan alenar.^[6][4][1] The noun haleine is formed from the verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie (about 1165) uses it transitively for “to scent, smell out”; about 1170 Chrétien de Troyes has it intransitively of a hunted stag panting with thirst.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb meant to breathe hard or pant, and also to sniff out or sense something, a figurative use Rey compares to flairer.^[2][4] In the 16th century, written halener from about 1560 (Paré), it meant to exhale one's breath and, in Amyot, to blow, of a wind;^[3][6] Agrippa d'Aubigné used it for discovering a secret, as one sniffs it out.^[6]

Littré records it as a hunting word for hounds picking up the scent of an animal, and in the sense of smelling someone's breath.^[6] The verb then fell out of use and was taken up again at the end of the 19th century by Moréas and Huysmans, the latter writing haleiner; it is now literary or archaic.^[4][3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for “to scent”.^[2]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it intransitively, “to pant”.^[2]
• c. 1360 – Froissart writes alener.^[3][7]
• c. 1560 – The spelling halener appears in Paré.^[3]
• Mid-16th century – Amyot uses it of the wind, “to blow”.^[3]
• 1879 – Huysmans revives it as haleiner in Les Sœurs Vatard.^[2][7]
• 1886 – Moréas uses it of the night wind.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, literary, intransitive) To exhale one's breath, to breathe.^[2][3]
2. (literary, intransitive) Of the wind, to blow.^[2][3]
3. (transitive) To smell the breath of someone.^[2][6]
4. (hunting) Of a hound, to pick up the scent of the game.^[8][9][6]
5. (figurative, dated) To sniff out someone's thoughts or weak point.^[6][10]

Related words

• haleine
• halenée
• Latin anhēlō

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 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 24, 575b
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org