huis

Forms

huis m (invariable)^[1] Old French us (about 1050) and uis (12th century).^[2][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include hus, huys, eus and heus.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French uis, inherited from Late Latin ustium, an altered form of Latin ōstium (“entrance, opening, door”).^[5][3][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg date the Late Latin form to the 6th century and explain its /u/ by metaphony; the GLLF dates it to the 5th.^[8][2] The classical word is derived from ōs (“mouth, opening”), which the Romance languages replaced with bucca;^[3][2] Rey compares the stem with Old Norse óss (“river mouth”).^[3][2] The ⟨h⟩ was added so that the spelling ⟨uis⟩ would not be read ⟨vis⟩, since ⟨u⟩ also stood for /v/; the DHLF dates it to 1549, while the GLLF finds the spelling with ⟨h⟩ in Chrétien de Troyes about 1175.^[3][2][9][1]

Cognate with Romanian ușă, Italian uscio, Occitan uis and Catalan uix, and with Walloon ouxh.^[9][10][1] In early Romance the word nearly drove out iānua (“door”), but in French it gave way in turn to porte, a change begun in the Middle Ages.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as us in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050), meaning a door.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Already competing with porte in Old French, huis had become archaic or literary by the 17th century.^[3] Old texts used it freely: a 13th-century line quoted by Littré speaks of begging d'uis en huis “from door to door”, and the Roman de la Rose of doing openly, à huis overt, what had been done in secret.^[11]

It lives on mainly in à huis clos “behind closed doors” (1549, Estienne), a legal term for a hearing without the public and, figuratively, “in a small circle”;^[3][5] à huis ouvert (1549) did not last.^[3][5] Huis clos became a masculine noun of the law courts, as in demander le huis clos (1835, Académie), opposed to the publicity of a hearing.^[3][5] Huis clos is also the title of a play by Sartre.^[9]

The derivative huissier (12th century) first meant a doorkeeper and by 1320 an officer of a court; huisserie “door frame” is found in Judeo-French before 1105.^[8][3]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Us appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[5]
• before 1105 – The derivative uisserie “door frame” is found in Judeo-French.^[3]
• c. 1175 – The spelling huis appears in Chrétien de Troyes, by the GLLF's dating.^[2]
• 12th century – huissier “doorkeeper” is recorded.^[8]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne records à huis clos and à huis ouvert.^[5]
• 17th century – The word has become archaic or literary.^[3]
• 1835 – The Académie records demander le huis clos.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, literary) The outer door of a house; by extension, any door.^[5][9]
2. À huis clos: behind closed doors;^[9][5] (law) with the public not admitted, in camera: Le procès s'est tenu à huis clos.^[9][5]
3. (law) Le huis clos: a hearing held without the public, as in demander le huis clos.^[9][3]

Word family

• huissier
• huisserie

Related words

• porte
• orifice
• orée
• Latin ōstium

Usage notes

Littré notes that the ⟨h⟩ is not aspirated (l'huis), except in le huis clos.^[11] He also records huis coupé, a door whose upper half opens while the lower half stays shut.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ 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. 7, 437a
8. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette