Etymologically
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premier

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pʁə.mje/[1]
  • IPA: /pʁə.mje.ʁ‿/[1]

Forms

premier (feminine première, masculine plural premiers, feminine plural premières)[1] Old French primers (about 980), premer, premier (Chanson de Roland); feminine premiere, première (Académie from 1740).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prīmārius (“of the first rank”),[4][2][5][6] a derivative of Latin prīmus (“first”), which survived in Old French as “prin”, still used around Lyon for “fine, thin” (see prime, printemps).[5][7] The learned doublet is primaire.[2][1]

Compare Old Occitan primier, Catalan primer, Spanish primero and Portuguese primeiro, Italian “primiero” was taken from French.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion of Clermont (late 10th century) has primers for “the earliest”;[4][2] the Chanson de Roland has cest premier meis and nostre est li premers colps, ours is the first blow.[9]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is temporal: primers anz “the first ages” (early 12th century, later premiers temps), premier âge, premières amours and le premier venu (Grévin, 1561), and after a king's name (François premier, 1575–1585).[4][2] About 1100 it also meant what comes first in space, whence premier étage and the noun le premier (1726–1762), and la tête la première (1564; 1508 la teste première).[4][2] From 1119 it was the first in a series (primier chapitle).[4]

From about 1170 (Chrétien de Troyes) it meant first in importance or quality, whence premier président (1606), premier ministre (Académie, 1694), de première qualité and slang de première (1893).[4][3] In 1567 Amyot used it for what was so at the start, whence matière première (1690) and nombre premier (late 14th century).[4][3] As a feminine noun la première was the class of rhetoric in school (1704), the first class in transport (1838) and the first performance of a play.[4][9] Recent usage has arts premiers for the arts of non-industrial peoples.[2]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Primers in the Passion of Clermont.[4]
  • c. 1100 – Of place, in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1119 – Primier chapitle.[4]
  • c. 1170 – First in rank, in Chrétien de Troyes.[4]
  • 1561 – Le premier venu.[4]
  • 1564 – La tête la première.[4]
  • 1606 – Premier président.[4]
  • 1690 – Matière première.[4]
  • 1694 – Premier ministre.[4]
  • 1704 – La première (school class).[4]
  • 1726 – Le premier “first floor”.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. First: le premier jour du mois, la première fois, François Ier.[10][1]
  2. Foremost, leading: premier ministre, de premier ordre, au premier plan.[10][3]
  3. Original, basic: matière première, le sens premier.[4][10]
  4. (mathematics) Prime: nombre premier.[1][3]

Noun

  1. The first (one): le premier venu, jeune premier: the male lead.[10][1]
  2. Le premier: the first floor; the first of the month.[10][2]
  3. La première: the first night (of a play); first class; first gear; the penultimate year of a lycée.[9][4][11]
  4. A prime minister, premier.[1]

Word family

  • premièrement
  • premier-né
  • avant-première

Usage notes

Premier also forms premier-né, avant-première and the adverb premièrement.[10][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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
  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. 9, 376b
  7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)