néant

Forms

néant m (plural néants)^[1] Old French neient, noient and nient;^[2][3] néant appears early and prevails in the 15th or 16th century.^[2][3] Nient was a single syllable in the 14th century.^[4]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *ne gentem (“not a living being”), a hypothesis of Körting accepted by the FEW.^[5][6][2][3] It is to be compared with classical phrases built on gēns, such as ubique gentium (“everywhere”) and nusquam gentium (“nowhere”).^[5][2] A negation that first referred to living beings being used of things has a parallel in German nicht (“not”), from Old High German niwiht, a compound of ni and wiht (“being, demon”), and in Spanish nada (“nothing”), from Latin nāta (“born”).^[5][2][3] The Petit Robert and the Grand Robert give a popular Latin *negens as an intermediate step.^[7][8]

An older explanation, still given by Littré, starts from Latin nec and ēns (“being”);^[4][3][2] Bloch and Wartburg and Rey reject it, since a word coined in philosophical language is unlikely to have become popular, especially at the end of the Empire.^[4][3][2] Cognate with Italian niente and Old Occitan nien.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century in the Passion, as a pronoun meaning “nothing” used with the negation ne; about 1050 the Vie de saint Alexis has n'i remest nïent “nothing was left there”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Old French nient was a pronoun “nothing” and an adverb “not at all”, used with ne and without it, and like goutte and mie it could have a positive value in conditional clauses.^[5][2] Many phrases date from the 12th century: metre a nient “to destroy” (1155), the source of réduire à néant, tenir a neïent “to count for nothing” and por nient “in vain” (about 1160).^[5][9] The adverbial use then gave way to rien, except in administrative style, where néant means “nothing to report”.^[2][7] The adjective “worthless” (1174–1176) has disappeared, except in dialects of the north and Normandy, where it means “lazy”.^[2][5]

As a noun it meant “vanity, illusion” (1160–1174), then in religious language the absolute void of all that is not God (late 12th century) and man in his littleness (1608, François de Sales).^[5][2] From the 17th century it expresses the philosophical idea of non-being (1647, Descartes), and of death as the end of being (1670); in the 20th century it became a key term of existentialist philosophy.^[2][5]

Timeline

• late 10th century – Neient with ne in the Passion.^[5]
• c. 1050 – Nïent in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[5][9]
• c. 1100 – Jo ne vus aim nient in the Chanson de Roland.^[5][4]
• 1155 – Metre a nient “to destroy” in Wace.^[5]
• 1160–1174 – The noun “vanity, illusion”.^[5][2]
• c. 1265 – Faire de nient “to make from nothing” in Brunetto Latini.^[5][9]
• 1337 – Mettre au néant “to annul” in law.^[5]
• 1647 – Descartes: non-being.^[2]
• 1691 – Réduire à néant in Bossuet.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. nothingness, non-being, the absence of all existence: l'angoisse face au néant.^[5][7][1]
2. The state of what has no value or importance: le néant de la gloire.^[7][5]
3. Réduire à néant: to bring to nothing, destroy utterly.^[7][9]
4. (administrative) “Nothing”, written in a form where there is nothing to declare: signes particuliers : néant.^[7]
5. (dated) Homme de néant: a man of no worth or obscure birth.^[7]

Word family

• anéantir
• fainéant
• néantir
• néantiser
• néanmoins

Related words

• rien
• Italian niente
• Latin gēns

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 85b
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse