Etymologically
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nouveau

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /nu.vo/[1]

Forms

nouveau (masculine singular before vowel nouvel, feminine nouvelle, masculine plural nouveaux, feminine plural nouvelles)[1] Old French novel, nouvel before a vowel or mute h (un nouvel ami), feminine nouvelle.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French novel, inherited from Latin novellus (“young, new, recent”),[2][4][5][6] a diminutive of novus (“new”), the source of neuf.[4][3] Rey notes that “novellus” was first a rural word for young animals and plants and competed with “novus” in the later imperial period.[4]

Cognate with Italian novello, Old Occitan novel and Catalan novell.[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Oxford Psalter (early 12th century) has vedel novel, a young calf;[2] the Gormont et Isembart (about 1130) has targe novele, a new shield.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French it already meant “fresh” (Wace's novele neif), “newly appointed” (about 1165) and “inexperienced” (late 12th century).[2][4] From the 12th century it also expressed succession: nuvele lune (1119), the novel tens of spring (about 1150) and a seignor novel (about 1165);[2] La Fontaine's nouveau Jupiter (1679) is “a second Jupiter”.[2][4] It also had the nuance “unheard of, surprising” in classical French.[4]

De nouveau “again” (about 1160) first meant “recently”, and à nouveau (1835) was at first a banking term, “on a new account”.[2][4] As a noun, du nouveau “something new” is in La Fontaine (about 1658), and un nouveau is a newcomer (Balzac, 1832).[2] It forms place names such as le Nouveau Monde and la Nouvelle-Orléans.[4] English nouveau is borrowed from it.[1]

Timeline

  • Early 12th century – Vedel novel in the Oxford Psalter.[2]
  • 1119 – Nuvele lune in Philippe de Thaon.[2]
  • c. 1160 – De novel “again”.[2]
  • 13th century – The form nouveau.[4]
  • c. 1658 – Il me faut du nouveau in La Fontaine.[2]
  • 1832 – Un nouveau “newcomer”, in Balzac.[2]
  • 1835 – À nouveau.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. New, recent: pommes de terre nouvelles, un mot nouveau.[8][9]
  2. Original, novel: une idée nouvelle.[4][1]
  3. Another, succeeding: un nouveau ministre, le nouvel an.[2][8]
  4. (before a proper name) A second, a new: un nouveau Napoléon.[2][4]
  5. Newly arrived, inexperienced: être nouveau dans le métier.[2][4]

Noun

  1. Du nouveau: something new: il y a du nouveau.[10][11]
  2. A newcomer, new pupil.[2][1]
  3. De nouveau, à nouveau: again.[10][1]

Word family

  • nouveauté
  • nouvelle
  • nouvellement
  • renouveler
  • nouveau-né

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 r s 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 201b
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF