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nonante

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Etymology and origin of the French word nonante

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1120 Voyage de saint Brendan More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin nonaginta via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin novem
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nōnāgintā
French nonante

Pronunciation

  • /nɔ.nɑ̃t/[1]

Forms

nonante (invariable)[2] Old French nunante;[3][4] Anglo-Norman also nonaunte.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French nonante, inherited from Latin nōnāgintā (“ninety”), derived from novem (“nine”).[3][5][1] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert start from a popular form *nonanta.[6][2] Wiktionary traces the Latin word to an earlier *nūnāgintā and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥dḱomt (“nine tens”).[1]

Cognate with Italian novanta, Occitan nonanta, Catalan noranta, Spanish noventa and Portuguese noventa.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as nunante in the Voyage de saint Brendan, about 1120 (Rey and the GLLF say about 1112), as the number ninety.[3][5][9]

Semantic evolution

In France the word gave way to quatre-vingt-dix: Vaugelas prescribed the compound in 1642, and in 1680 Richelet noted that it was generally used instead.[5][3] In 1868 Littré found nonante still common in Switzerland, Savoy and the south of France.[5][3] Today it lives on in Belgian and Swiss French, where it is fully current and quatre-vingt-dix is felt as an anomaly, like septante beside soixante-dix.[5][3] It is also used in the Aosta Valley, Rwanda and the Congo.[2][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1120 – Nunante in the Voyage de saint Brendan.[3]
  • c. 1131 – The form nonante in the Couronnement de Louis.[9]
  • 1200 – The ordinal nounantisme.[5]
  • 1642 – Vaugelas prescribes quatre-vingt-dix.[5]
  • 1680 – Richelet notes that quatre-vingt-dix is the usual word.[5][3]
  • 1868 – Littré finds it still much used in Switzerland, Savoy and the south.[5]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. (Belgium, Switzerland) (dated) ninety;[2][3][1] nonante et un, ninety-one.[2][3][1]

Usage notes

In astronomy Littré records quart de nonante, an instrument showing a quarter circle divided into ninety degrees.[8] The ordinal is nonantième, first found as nounantisme in 1200.[5][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
  4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nonante.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/nonante. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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