Etymologically
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joindre

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʒwɛ̃dʁ/[1]

Forms

joindre[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French joindre, inherited from Latin iungō (“to yoke; to join, unite”).[2][3][1][4] The Latin verb belongs to the Indo-European group of iugum (“yoke”), the source of joug: from the precise first sense “to harness” it widened to “to unite in pairs, bind, assemble”.[3][5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *yewg- (“to join”), the root also of Sanskrit युज् (yuj, “to join”) and Ancient Greek ζυγόν (zugón, “yoke”).[1][5][6]

Cognate with Old Occitan jonher, Catalan junyir, Spanish uncir and Italian giugnere.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it describes hands joined in prayer, Cuntre le ciel ambesdous ses mains juintes, and in the gesture of homage: Qu'il devendrat jointes ses mains tis hom.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century joindre also expressed movement, “to reach, catch up with”, intransitively (1080), transitively and in the pronominal form (1174–76), often with a hostile, warlike nuance; it lost this value to the prefixed verb rejoindre.[3] From the 11th century it had its now usual sense of uniting two things, first of limbs (joindre les mains, les pieds); about 1135 it meant to make one thing touch another.[3][2]

About 1170 (Livre des Rois) it meant to unite, and in the 13th century to bind by a moral tie.[7] Joindre les deux bouts, to make ends meet, is recorded by the Académie in 1762, after joindre un bout de l'année avec l'autre (1694).[7] The sense “to contact someone, get in touch” has become common: joindre quelqu'un par téléphone.[1][5] Derivatives include joint, jointure, rejoindre and disjoindre.[8][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Mains juintes in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1135 – To make one thing touch another.[2]
  • c. 1170 – To unite, in the Livre des Rois.[7]
  • 1580 – Montaigne: of places, to adjoin.[7][2]
  • 1694 – Joindre un bout de l'année avec l'autre.[7]
  • 1762 – Joindre les deux bouts.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put together so as to touch or hold: joindre deux planches, joindre les mains.[5][1]
  2. To unite, combine: joindre l'utile à l'agréable, joindre le geste à la parole.[7][5]
  3. To add, attach (to): joindre une pièce à un dossier.[5][1]
  4. To get in touch with, reach (someone): joindre quelqu'un par téléphone.[1][5]
  5. Joindre les deux bouts: to make ends meet.[5][7]
  6. Se joindre à: to join (a group, a movement).[1][5]

Word family

  • adjoindre
  • disjoindre
  • joignable
  • joint
  • jointure
  • rejoindre
  • déjoindre

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 67a
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France