juillet

Forms

juillet m (plural juillets)^[1] Old French juignet (also juigniet) and juil.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Old French juignet (“July”), properly “little June”, remodelled after Old French juil (“July”).^[2][4][5][6] That word is a diminutive of juin (“June”) with the suffix -et.^[2][7][1] Bloch and Wartburg and Rey suggest that July was seen as a repetition of June, a “younger June”, just as Old English told the two months apart by calling them “the first” and “the second” of one name.^[7][4] The older name comes from Latin iūlius (“(month) of Julius”), and the Latin word, used regularly in medieval documents, also helped to reshape the diminutive.^[2][4][7]

The Latin month had been named by Mark Antony in honour of Julius Caesar, who was born in that month and reformed the calendar in 45 BC; before that it was quīntīlis (“fifth”), because the year began in March.^[4] The form with the suffix is shared by Occitan julhet and Walloon djulete, while Catalan juliol, Spanish julio, Portuguese julho and Italian luglio continue the Latin name.^[1][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Juillet is first recorded about 1213 in the Faits des Romains, naming the month of July.^[2][4][7] Its forerunners juignet and juil are both found in 1119 in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the seventh month of the year, the heart of summer in the French-speaking countries of Europe.^[4] Juillet drove out the older juignet around the 16th century,^[4][7] while juil lived on in the dialects of the far north.^[4][7] In the north-east juignet could also mean June.^[2]

The month gave its name to events of French history: the journées de juillet are the days of the revolution of 1830, and the monarchie de Juillet is the regime that lasted from that revolution to February 1848.^[4][6] The quatorze juillet, the national holiday, goes back to a law of 6 July 1880.^[3] Holiday-makers who go away in July have been called juillettistes since 1969, as opposed to the aoûtiens.^[4] Old proverbs tie the month to the harvest: au mois de juillet, faucille au poignet “in July, sickle in hand”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1119 – Juignet and juil appear in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2][3]
• c. 1213 – Juillet is recorded in the Faits des Romains.^[2][4]
• 16th century – Juillet has replaced juignet.^[4][7]
• 1830 – The journées de juillet, the days of the July Revolution.^[4]
• 1867 – Littré records la révolution, les journées de juillet.^[3]
• 1873 – Larousse has la dynastie de Juillet, later la monarchie de Juillet (1924, Bainville).^[3]
• 1880 – Le quatorze juillet appears in the Bulletin des lois.^[3]
• 1969 – Juillettistes, people who take their holidays in July.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. July, the seventh month of the year, with thirty-one days: Nous partons en juillet.^[6][2][1]
2. Le 14 Juillet: the French national holiday, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.^[6][3]
3. Monarchie de Juillet: the July Monarchy, the French regime of 1830–1848.^[6][4]

Word family

• juillettiste

Related words

• juin
• Latin iūlius

Usage notes

Littré gives the pronunciation as jui-llè and notes that in the 17th century, according to Chifflet, the i was not sounded at all.^[8] The plural (des juillets torrides) is rare.^[6]

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 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 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 h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter