Etymologically
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peine

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Pronunciation

Forms

peine f (plural peines)[1] Poenas and penas in the plural (10th century), then peine (about 1050); Old French also paine, poine.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French peine, inherited from Latin poena (“penalty, punishment; pain”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “blood money, fine; punishment”).[3][2][5][6][1] The Greek word, a legal term for the compensation paid for an offence or a killing, is compared with Avestan “kaēnā” “vengeance” and Russian цена (cena, “price”), but no clear Indo-European family can be set up.[2][7] Like most early Latin loans from Greek, “poena” was concrete, first the punishment of a slave; under the Empire it took the wider sense “sorrow, pain”, which passed into the Romance languages.[2][5]

Cognate with Italian pena and Spanish pena.[5] The Petit Robert also compares German Pein and Dutch pijn.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the second half of the 10th century in the Vie de saint Léger and in the Passion of Clermont, as the plural poenas, penas, “torments, sufferings inflicted on someone”.[3][2][8]

Semantic evolution

About 1050 it meant the trouble one takes for an end, whence se mettre en peine de (about 1165), être en peine de and perdre sa peine (1176–1181).[3][2] From the early 12th century peines named the pains of hell, and, from 1275 a penalty fixed by law, Bloch and Wartburg note that the legal sense was taken again from Latin.[3][4][5] Moral pain, “sorrow”, is found in the mid-12th century (Jeu d'Adam), and sorrow in love about 1165.[4]

The weakened senses “work, effort, difficulty” spread early: homme de peine “labourer” (1690), prendre la peine de (1461–1469, Pathelin), valoir la peine (1587) and ce n'est pas la peine (Pascal, 1656).[3][5] The adverbial phrase à peine “hardly” has counterparts in Italian appena and Spanish apenas.[5]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 10th century – Poenas in the Vie de saint Léger.[3]
  • c. 1050 – Peine “trouble taken”, in the Vie de saint Alexis.[3]
  • Mid-12th century – Moral pain, in the Jeu d'Adam.[4]
  • 1275 – A legal penalty.[4]
  • 1461–1469 – Prendre la peine de in Pathelin.[3]
  • 1587 – Valoir la peine.[3]
  • 1656 – Ce n'est pas la peine in Pascal.[3]
  • 1690 – Homme de peine.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A punishment, penalty: peine de mort, sous peine d'amende.[7][1]
  2. Sorrow, distress: avoir de la peine, faire de la peine à quelqu'un.[1][4]
  3. Effort, trouble: se donner de la peine, valoir la peine, ce n'est pas la peine.[1][3]
  4. Difficulty: avoir de la peine à, sans peine.[4]
  5. À peine: hardly, barely; only just.[5]

Word family

  • peiner
  • penaud
  • pénible
  • peinard

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 114a
  7. ^ a b c 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