jeûner

Forms

jeûner^[1] Old French jeüner, jejuner, juner and geüner.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French jeüner,^[1][3] inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin iēiūnō (“to fast, abstain from food”),^[4][5][3][6] which in Christian Latin also meant “to go without, keep away from”.^[4][5] The Latin verb is derived from iēiūnus (“fasting, hungry”),^[5][3][1] also “lean, dry, poor”;^[5] Rey connects it with ientō (“to breakfast”), a popular word of unclear origin.^[5]

Cognate with Romanian ajuna, Italian digiunare, Occitan junar, Catalan dejunar, Spanish ayunar and Portuguese jejuar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119) uses it for abstaining from food out of penance.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

Outside religion the verb meant simply “to go without food” by about 1160, in the Eneas.^[4][5] From the early 13th century, in the Reclus de Molliens, it was also used figuratively, “to deprive oneself of something”;^[4][8] Rey dates from 1225 the sense “to abstain from all pleasures”, now literary except in the familiar sense “to be chaste”.^[5] The causative faire jeûner ses domestiques is found in Voltaire.^[8]

The noun jeûne (14th century, earlier juïne about 1100) and jeûneur (1546) were formed from the verb.^[5] The Latin adjective survived in the old adjective jeun (1174), which went out of use in the 16th century, probably because its feminine could be confused with jeune; it remains only in the phrase à jeun “on an empty stomach” (1216).^[5]

Timeline

• 1119 – Philippe de Thaon uses it for fasting as penance.^[4]
• c. 1160 – In the Eneas it means to go without food.^[4]
• Early 13th century – The Reclus de Molliens uses it figuratively, “to deprive oneself”.^[4]
• 1216 – The phrase à jeun is recorded.^[5]
• 1546 – Jeûneur appears, first as an adjective.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To go without food, by choice or by necessity: il a jeûné deux jours.^[7][4]
2. To keep a ritual fast.^[7][2]
3. (figurative) To go without something, to abstain from it.^[4][2]

Word family

• jeûne
• jeûneur

Related words

• à jeun
• déjeuner
• dîner
• jéjunum
• Latin iēiūnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 32b
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse