naissance

Pronunciation

• IPA: /nɛ.sɑ̃s/^[1]
• IPA: /ne.sɑ̃s/^[1]

Forms

naissance f (plural naissances)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French naître + -ance, formed after Latin nāscentia (“birth”), from nāscor (“to be born”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Compare Occitan naissença, Catalan naixença and Italian nascenza.^[1][7] Old French also used nation in the sense of birth.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benedeit's Voyage de saint Brendan (early 12th century) uses it for a person's origin by blood, their descent; the Vie de saint Alexis manuscript of the same period has it for coming into the world.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Prendre naissance is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165).^[2] About 1200 the Dialogues of Gregory translate Latin ante solis ortum as devant la naissence del soloilh, the moment when something begins, and the word came to mean beginning or origin in general.^[2] Corneille (1651) uses it for noble birth, as in avoir de la naissance (Retz) and un homme sans naissance (Académie, 1694).^[2][3] Pascal speaks of the seconde naissance of baptism.^[2]

Delorme (1561) uses it in architecture for the point where a beam or vault starts, and Buffon for the point where a part of the body starts, as in la naissance de la gorge.^[2][8] The Civil Code of 1804 established the acte de naissance;^[3] contrôle des naissances is from the 20th century.^[3]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – “Descent, origin” and “birth”.^[2]
• c. 1165 – Prendre naissance.^[2]
• c. 1200 – “Beginning, rise”, of the sun.^[2]
• 1561 – La naissance des poutres, in Delorme.^[2][8]
• 1651 – “Noble birth”, in Corneille.^[2]
• 1804 – Acte de naissance in the Civil Code.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Birth: the beginning of life outside the mother's body: date et lieu de naissance, donner naissance à, to give birth to.^[9][10]
2. De naissance: from birth, congenital: aveugle de naissance.^[9][10]
3. A birth as an event in statistics: contrôle des naissances.^[10][3]
4. (dated) Descent, origin; noble birth: un homme d'une naissance obscure.^[5][2]
5. The beginning, origin of something: prendre naissance.^[9][1]
6. The point where something begins: la naissance des poutres, la naissance de la gorge.^[5][2]

Word family

• renaissance

Related words

• naître
• natalité
• Latin nāscentia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 18a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)