maintenir

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɛ̃t.niʁ/^[1]

Forms

maintenir^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *manūteneō (“to hold with the hand”), from manū (“with the hand”), ablative of manus (“hand”), and teneō (“to hold”), with the change of conjugation seen in tenir.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Since the compound is found in all the Romance languages except Romanian, it must go back to Latin times.^[2][3][4]

Cognate with Italian mantenere, Old Occitan mantener, Catalan mantenir, Spanish mantener and Portuguese manter.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Couronnement de Louis (about 1135) it means to protect, support, defend, Wace (1160–74) has the reflexive “to defend oneself”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French gave it a wider range than today: to protect (about 1135), to hold as true (1174–76), and reflexively to be in a given state of health (about 1200) or to behave, senses that went out of use in the 16th century.^[2][3] Modern French kept “to keep in the same state, make last” (l'usage maintenir, 1160) and “to affirm steadily” (1306–1309).^[2][3] From 1690 it is used of concrete things, “to hold firm, keep from falling”, reviving the etymological sense.^[3][2]

The derivative maintenance (about 1155) had disappeared by the 17th century; it came back in the 20th from English maintenance, itself from Middle French.^[3] Maintenant, its present participle, first meant “at once” and took the modern sense “now” about the 16th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1135 – “To protect”, Couronnement de Louis.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Maintenance, mainteneour.^[3]
• 1160 – To keep up a custom, Roman d'Eneas.^[2]
• 1174–76 – “To hold as true”.^[2]
• c. 1200 – Se maintenir, to be in a state of health.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Maintien.^[3]
• 1309 – “To affirm”.^[2]
• 1690 – “To hold firm”, Furetière.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To maintain, keep up, preserve: maintenir l'ordre, maintenir un malade en vie.^[8][9]
2. To hold in position, keep from moving or falling: des étais maintiennent le mur, maintenir la foule.^[5][10]
3. To affirm, stand by: je l'ai dit et je le maintiens.^[8][9]
4. Se maintenir: to last, hold steady: le beau temps se maintient; to keep one's position.^[1][11]

Word family

• maintien
• maintenance
• mainteneur
• maintenue
• maintenant

Related words

• main
• tenir
• English maintain

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 298a
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette