seize

Forms

seize (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French seze, inherited from Latin sēdecim (“sixteen”), a compound of sex (“six”) and decem (“ten”).^[2][3][4] Old French also had seise (about 1220), and the present spelling is a remaking of about 1250.^[3] Littré notes that the Latin word, stressed on its first syllable, gave the French form regularly.^[5]

Cognate with Italian sedici, Old Occitan sedze, Catalan setze and Walloon saz.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as seze in Wace's Brut (about 1155), as the cardinal number “sixteen”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From its first records the cardinal number was also used as an ordinal, where modern French has seizième, as in la lune seze “the moon on its sixteenth day” (1165–1170), and as a noun.^[3] The ordinal use after a name, as in Louis Seize, is dated 1792–1793 by the TLFi.^[2] As a noun it names the sixteenth day of the month (1601, le seize juing), the number sixteen (1690) and a house numbered sixteen (1898).^[2] In printing in-seize (1623) named a book format.^[3] In cinema seize or 16 mm is a film gauge sixteen millimetres wide (1970).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – Seze appears in Wace's Brut.^[2]
• c. 1165 – The spelling seize appears in Guillaume d'Angleterre.^[2]
• 1165–1170 – La lune seze shows the ordinal use.^[3]
• c. 1250 – Seize becomes the usual spelling.^[3][7]
• 1601 – Fauchet writes le seize juing “the sixteenth of June”.^[2]
• 1623 – The printing term in-seize is recorded.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière gives quatre fois quatre sont seize.^[2]
• 1792–1793 – Louis Seize is recorded as an ordinal.^[2]
• 1970 – Le 16 mm is recorded as a film format.^[2]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Sixteen, fifteen plus one: une fille de seize ans.^[2][8]
2. Sixteenth, after a noun: Louis Seize, la page seize.^[2][8]

Noun

1. The number sixteen.^[2][8]
2. The sixteenth day of the month: le seize mars.^[2][9]
3. (cinema) The 16 mm film format.^[2][8]

Word family

• seizième
• seizain
• seizaine

Related words

• six
• dix
• Latin sēdecim

Usage notes

In the 16th century Pasquier wrote that Seize was the word on everyone's lips when they spoke of the upheaval in Paris after the Day of the Barricades.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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. 11, 391b
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse