septante

Forms

septante (invariable)^[1] Old French setante; the spelling with ⟨p⟩, restored after the Latin word, is found from about 1265 in Jean de Meun.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French setante, inherited from Vulgar Latin *septanta (“seventy”), an altered form of Latin septuāgintā, which is derived from septem (“seven”).^[5][6][3][7] The Académie analyses the Latin word as built on the words for “seven” and decem (“ten”).^[7] The ⟨p⟩ is a learned spelling after the Latin.^[4][1]

Cognate with Italian settanta, Catalan setanta, Spanish setenta and Old Occitan setenta.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as setante ans “seventy years” in the Oxford Psalter, in the first half of the 12th century.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

In general French septante was ousted by soixante-dix, which Bloch and Wartburg date to 1276;^[9][4] Voltaire still used septante in 1763.^[9][4] It held on in Belgium, Switzerland, the Channel Islands and the east of France from Wallonia down to Provence, and according to a map drawn by André Goosse in 1977 also in parts of the north, the south and even the west and centre of France.^[9][5] Dictionaries now label it old-fashioned or regional; it is the usual word in Belgium and in French-speaking Switzerland, as well as in the Aosta Valley and in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[10][11][1]

From 1647 (Vaugelas), les Septante names the seventy (more exactly seventy-two) Jewish scholars who, according to the legend told in the Letter of Aristeas, translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek in Egypt for Ptolemy Philadelphus, and by extension their translation, the Septuagint.^[5][3][7]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Setante appears in the Oxford Psalter.^[3][5]
• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun writes septante, with the Latin ⟨p⟩.^[3][2]
• 1276 – First record of soixante-dix, which later replaces septante in general French.^[9]
• 1336 – The derivative septantaine is first recorded, meaning “seventieth part”.^[5]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records the ordinal septantiesme.^[5]
• 1647 – Vaugelas writes of les Septante, the translators of the Septuagint.^[5][3]
• 1763 – Voltaire still uses septante.^[9]

Meanings

Numeral

1. (Belgium, Switzerland, regional) seventy, standard French soixante-dix: septante-deux élèves.^[11][10][5]

Noun

1. Les Septante: the seventy Jewish translators who, by tradition, made the Greek version of the Old Testament, and by extension that version, the Septuagint.^[7][3][8]

Word family

• septantaine
• septantième

Related words

• sept
• soixante-dix
• nonante
• huitante
• octante
• Latin septuāgintā

Usage notes

Septante, like nonante and huitante, survives in Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland.^[4] La Septante, in the feminine, is short for la version des Septante.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 484b
7. ^ a b c d e Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)