parvis

Forms

parvis m (invariable)^[1] Old French parevis (about 1200), then parvis (about 1223).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French parevis, inherited from Late Latin paradīsus (“park, enclosure, paradise”), the Christian Latin word that French also borrowed as paradis.^[2][4][3] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek παράδεισος (parádeisos, “park, paradise”),^[5][1] which Wiktionary traces further back to Proto-Iranian *paridayjah.^[1]

In the early Middle Ages the square in front of the main door of a church was called by this Latin name in Rome and southern Italy, a use that grew out of the older sense “park, enclosure”.^[6][2][3] The ⟨v⟩ is probably due to Greek: in late Greek the ⟨δ⟩ of the word was pronounced as a dental fricative, a sound unknown to the Romance speech of Italy, which there seems to have replaced it with /v/.^[2][6][3] Nyrop and Kahane add that a Byzantine Greek word for a cloister garden, often paired with the Greek word for paradise, may have helped narrow the sense.^[2][3] Littré had explained the name by the mystery plays performed in front of churches, where this space stood for paradise.^[7]

Old French also used pareïs, parewis and parvis in the sense “paradise”, from the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) on.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as parevis about 1200, in the Old French Dialogues of Gregory the Great, for the open place in front of the façade of a church.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century the word was limited to the space in front of a large church;^[3] older dictionaries describe it as an area before a church, usually closed off by a balustrade or porticoes.^[8] The Reformation Bible of Olivétan (1535) applied it to the courts that surrounded the sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem.^[2][3]

The old sense “paradise” left a trace in the literary phrase célestes parvis “heaven” (Delille, 1804).^[2][3] Around 1960 town planning gave the word a new use: it replaced place for some large open spaces laid out in front of public buildings.^[3][5] In Anglo-Norman parvis is recorded from the late 13th century for a court or square in front of a building or church.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Pareïs “paradise” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1200 – Parevis “square in front of a church” in the Dialogues of Gregory.^[2]
• c. 1223 – Gautier de Coinci writes parvis.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Anglo-Norman parvis is recorded.^[9]
• 1535 – Olivétan's Bible uses it for the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem.^[2]
• 1804 – Delille writes célestes parvis “heaven”.^[2]
• 1963 – Larousse records the extended sense “open space in front of a building”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The open square in front of the façade of a church or cathedral.^[8][10]
2. (by extension) An open space in front of a public building: le parvis de la gare.^[8][3]
3. (history) The courts around the sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem.^[10][2]
4. (dated) An area before a church enclosed by a balustrade or porticoes.^[8]
5. (literary) Les célestes parvis: heaven.^[7][2]

Related words

• paradis
• Latin paradīsus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 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. 7, 614b
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)