provenir

Forms

provenir^[1] Old French porvenant (1284, present participle); Anglo-Norman purvenoir.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōveniō (“to come forth”), literally “to come forward”, hence “to be born, to grow” and figuratively “to appear, to come about”.^[2][4][5][6] The Latin verb is formed from prō (“forward”) and veniō (“to come”).^[4][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1210 in Herbert de Dammartin's Fouque de Candie, meaning “to arise, to be born”.^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

The old senses “to arise, to be born” and, of an event, “to happen” (about 1360) grew old and died out, giving way to survenir and arriver; nor did French keep the Latin sense “to grow”, used of animals and plants in the 16th century.^[4]

The sense “to come from, to originate in” appears in 1284 with the present participle porvenantes, used of lands coming from a lady's inheritance, and moved the focus to the origin.^[2][4] It was said especially of goods and revenues from the 15th century,^[4][2] and in the classical period of abstract processes, “to result from” (Molière, 1665).^[2][4] The participle provenant is still used in law of property coming from a given source, but the nouns provenant “profit” (1575) and provenu “revenue” (1670) have gone out of use.^[4][2]

The noun provenance was formed in 1801 as a commercial term.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1210 – First record, in Fouque de Candie, meaning “to arise”.^[2][4]
• 1269 – Anglo-Norman provenir “to come from, to arise from” is recorded.^[3]
• 1284 – Porvenantes “coming from” is used of lands.^[2][4]
• c. 1460 – Provenir de is used of a revenue.^[2][8][5]
• 1665 – Molière uses it for “to result from”.^[2][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records it in the sense “to come from”.^[2][8]
• 1801 – The derivative provenance appears as a commercial term.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, + de) To come from (a place); to have (a place) as its origin: ces oranges proviennent d'Espagne.^[9][10][11]
2. To originate in, to result from: la panne provenait d'un câble usé.^[9][10][2]
3. (of feelings and ideas) To stem from, to flow from.^[9][10]

Word family

• provenance
• provenant

Related words

• venir
• survenir
• Latin prōveniō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d 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, 482a
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)