privé

Forms

privé (feminine privée, masculine plural privés, feminine plural privées)^[1] Anglo-Norman prevé, privee, privy and other spellings.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French privé, inherited from Latin prīvātus (“particular, one's own, individual, (as a noun) a private citizen”).^[3][4][5][6] The Latin word is the past participle of prīvō (“to set apart; to deprive”), from prīvus (“single, one's own, peculiar”).^[4][7] Rey takes the first sense of the adjective to have been “set apart in front”, from a stem also seen in prior (“former”) and prīmus (“first”), part of an Indo-European family of words expressing a position in front.^[4]

Cognate with Italian privato, Occitan privat and Spanish privado.^[7][5] The English word privy comes from the Anglo-Norman adjective.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi notes privé “familiar, living in someone's intimacy” in Rashi's glosses (late 11th century); the first French texts are Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis (about 1140), with the sense “intimate” and in meisnee privee, a lord's household.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the word was often used of excessive familiarity: of a master too close to his servants, a skilful thief or a man with free manners (compare privauté).^[4] As a noun, un privé was an intimate friend (about 1140), and en son privé meant “in private” (about 1180), now en privé.^[3][4] Privé conseil meant a secret thought (1174) and later the king's council of his closest advisers.^[3][4] The adjective was applied to a tame animal (about 1160), whence the verb priver “to tame” (1476); both senses have gone out of use.^[3][4] The noun privée (13th century), later privé (1538), also meant a privy, from the secluded place it occupied.^[4]

The second main sense, “taking no part in public affairs”, dates from Middle French (privée personne, 1367).^[3][4] The adjective then came to mean “unofficial” and was opposed to “public”, “political” and “social”, as in the legal acte sous seing privé (1690), a deed made without a notary.^[3][4] In contrast with the state sector it qualifies private enterprise, and as a noun le privé is the private sector;^[4][8] un privé is also a private detective, mostly in an American setting.^[4][8]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – “Intimate” and meisnee privee in Geffrei Gaimar.^[3]
• c. 1160 – “Tame”, in the Roman d'Eneas.^[3]
• 1174 – Privé conseil “secret thought”, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[3]
• c. 1180 – En sun privé, in Thomas's Tristan.^[3]
• 1367 – Privée personne, someone with no public role.^[3]
• 1538 – Privé “privy”, in Robert Estienne.^[4][9]
• 1690 – Acte sous seing privé, in Furetière.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not open to the public: un chemin privé, une plage privée, en privé, in private, between two people.^[8][3]
2. Individual, particular, as opposed to collective or public: la propriété privée.^[8]
3. Personal, intimate: la vie privée.^[8][7]
4. Having no part in public affairs; unofficial: à titre privé, (law) droit privé, acte sous seing privé.^[8][3]
5. Not run by the state: une clinique privée, le secteur privé.^[8]
6. (dated) Tame: un sanglier privé.^[3][10]

Noun

1. Le privé: private life, intimacy, (familiar) the private sector: travailler dans le privé.^[8]
2. (familiar) A private detective.^[8][4]

Word family

• privauté
• privatiser

Related words

• priver
• Latin prīvātus
• English privy

Usage notes

Privé is also the past participle of priver “to deprive” (privé de, “deprived of”), which comes from the same Latin family.^[8][2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. 9, 396b
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse