minuit

Forms

minuit m (plural minuits)^[1] Old French mie nuit, mienuit;^[2][3][1] Middle French mynuyt.^[2][3][1] Anglo-Norman has mienuit, minut and mynuyt.^[4]

Etymology

It is a compound from French mi- + nuit.^[2][5][6][7] The Old French form was mie nuit, with mie, the feminine of mi “half, middle”, agreeing with the feminine noun.^[1][5] The word was feminine, like the noun for night, until 1530, when Palsgrave records it as masculine on the model of midi.^[2][3][5]

Cognate with Occitan mièjanuèch, Catalan mitjanit, Spanish medianoche, Portuguese meia-noite, Italian mezzanotte and Romanian miazănoapte.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Brut (1155) has mienuit “the middle of the night”.^[2][5] The GLLF and the Grand Robert date mie nuit to about 1130, citing the Roman d'Eneas.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

From the vague “middle of the night” the word came to name, in 1554 (Ronsard: Il estoit minuit), the exact hour, the twelfth after noon, matching midi.^[2][5] It often suggests a late hour, time for bed, or a dangerous one, as in minuit, l'heure du crime.^[5][6]

The feminine survived as an archaism, depuis la minuit, in literary use.^[2][3] Cotgrave records messe de minuit, the Christmas night mass, in 1611, and permission de minuit, a soldier's leave until midnight, belongs to the 20th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 1155 – Wace uses mienuit “middle of the night” (feminine).^[2]
• 15th century – The spelling minuit appears.^[3][8]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records the word as masculine.^[2][5]
• 1554 – Ronsard uses it for the hour of midnight.^[2][5]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records messe de minuit.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The middle of the night;^[2][6][9] soleil de minuit, the midnight sun.^[2][6][9]
2. Midnight, the twelfth hour after noon (24:00 or 0:00): Le car part à minuit.^[6][9][1]
3. Messe de minuit: the Midnight Mass of Christmas night.^[6][10]
4. (astronomy) The moment when the sun crosses the lower meridian of a place.^[10][9]

Related words

• midi
• nuit
• mi-

Usage notes

The ⟨t⟩ is never pronounced, even before a vowel.^[10] The feminine la minuit is an archaism found in literary French.^[2][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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 215b
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette