minute

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mi.nyt/^[1]

Forms

minute f (plural minutes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin minūta, the feminine of classical Latin minūtus (“small, minute”) used as a noun, the past participle of minuō (“to make smaller, lessen”), itself derived from minus (“less”) (see moins).^[2][3][4][5] The earliest form “minuce” comes rather from minūtia (“smallness”), according to Littré.^[6] The inherited doublet of “minūtus” is menu.^[1][3]

The “minute” of a legal deed, the original from which copies are made (1382), is the same Medieval Latin word in the sense “small writing”, as opposed to the “grosse”, the engrossed copy.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as minuce in the third quarter of the 13th century, in a treatise on the calendar, meaning the smallest division of time; the form minute and the sense “sixtieth part of an hour” appear in Eustache Deschamps (1392).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Oresme (1377) has minut for a division of a degree of the celestial sphere, and, from 1636 minute is the sixtieth part of a degree of a circle.^[2] By extension it meant a short moment (Calvin, 1541–1560), especially a moment marked by its feeling: une minute d'inquiétude (Madame de Staël, 1792), la minute fatale (Chateaubriand, 1826).^[2][3]

In the 19th century, after dans la minute “at once” (1779), adverbial phrases followed: d'une minute à l'autre (1803), de minute en minute (1813), à la minute (1815) and à une minute près (1835–1836), as well as the interjection minute ! “wait!” (1808).^[2][3] After culinary phrases like côtelette à la minute (1755), it is placed after a noun for something done quickly: bouillon-minute (1922), talon-minute.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 3rd quarter of the 13th century – Minuce, the smallest division of time.^[2]
• 1377 – Minut of a degree, in Oresme.^[2]
• 1382 – Minute of a deed, attested by the verb minuter.^[4]
• 1392 – The sixtieth part of an hour, in Eustache Deschamps.^[2]
• 1636 – The sixtieth part of a degree, in Monet.^[2]
• 1786 – Minuterie.^[4]
• 1808 – The interjection minute !^[2]
• 1922 – Bouillon-minute, in Paul Morand.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A minute, the sixtieth part of an hour.^[7]
2. A very short time, a moment: je reviens dans une minute, à la minute, d'une minute à l'autre.^[7][2]
3. A sixtieth of a degree of arc.^[2]
4. (law) The original of a deed kept by a notary.^[4][2]
5. After a noun: done quickly, while you wait: talon-minute.^[3]

Interjection

1. Minute !: wait a moment!^[2][3]

Word family

• minuterie
• minuter
• minutier

Related words

• menu
• moins
• minutieux
• Latin minūtus

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 n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 137a
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert