mitan

Forms

mitan m (plural mitans)^[1] Old French moitan (Burgundy, about 1190), moitant (Franche-Comté, 1290), then mitan.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is debated, although the form and meaning of its first syllable tie it to mi-.^[3] Wartburg's FEW, followed by the TLFi and Rey, takes it as inherited from Old French moitan, a form of Burgundy and Franche-Comté continuing an early compound inherited from Latin mediu tantu, the ablatives of medius (“middle”) and tantus (“so much”), in which the first part developed like an independent word.^[2][3][4][1] When the word spread over France in the 15th and 16th centuries the regional first syllable was brought into line with that prefix.^[2][3] The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and, with a doubt, the GLLF likewise describe it as an eastern dialect word formed from this prefix and tant.^[5][6][7]

Other proposals have been rejected.^[2] Alcover and Moll took it from Catalan mitjan, which continues Latin mediante, but /dz/ would not have become /t/; a reconstructed Vulgar Latin *medietaneus fails because its suffix could not have given this ending in Gallo-Romance;^[2][3] Horning's Latin medium tempus does not explain the French forms, and Marchot's split of the sense “half” from the sense “middle” is not borne out by the oldest example.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1190 in Floovant, in ou moitan de lor voie “halfway along their road, in the middle of their road”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century mitan also meant “half”, and the Franche-Comté moitant meant “middle” by 1290.^[2] Spreading from the east, the word stood beside milieu in the 15th and above all the 16th century, then gave way to it; today it is dated or regional.^[3][2] The old sense lives on in Acadian and Louisiana French.^[3][1]

In 20th-century slang it took up the sense of milieu “the underworld” (1924).^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1190 – Moitan appears in Floovant, a Burgundian text.^[2][3]
• 13th century – Mitan “half” is recorded in a cartulary of Laon.^[2]
• 1290 – Moitant “middle” in Jean Priorat, in Franche-Comté French.^[2]
• 1396 – Moitant in a document from Dijon.^[2]
• 15th–16th centuries – The word spreads over France beside milieu.^[2][3]
• 1924 – Slang mitan “underworld” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated or regional, Acadia, Louisiana) The middle, centre: au mitan du champ.^[2][6][1]
2. (slang) Le mitan: the criminal underworld, the milieu.^[2][3]

Related words

• mi-
• milieu
• moitié
• tant

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 q 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 j k l m n 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. 13/1, 92a
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse