soixante

Forms

soixante (invariable)^[1] Old French seisante (Chanson de Roland), seissante (about 1130), seixante (about 1160) and soissante (about 1228).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French seisante, inherited from Late Latin sexanta, a contracted form of Latin sexāgintā (“sixty”).^[4][5][2] The Latin numeral is formed on sex (“six”).^[2][6] The contracted form is found in the 4th century, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[7] The spelling with ⟨x⟩ is a remodelling after the Latin word: a first one is seen in seixante in the 12th century, and the modern spelling dates from about 1380.^[4][2][8]

Cognate with Italian sessanta and Spanish sesenta.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as seisante in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), as the number sixty: Ne mes seisante que Deus ad esparniez “except sixty whom God has spared”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the word has always meant six times ten; it has also been used as a noun since the 12th century, and as an ordinal, “sixtieth” (page soixante), since the 19th century.^[2][4]

Its compound soixante-dix (recorded as seisente dis about 1165) keeps a trace of counting by twenties; it pushed out the older septante, which held on in the French of Belgium and Switzerland.^[2][7] Later compounds took special senses: soixante-quinze for the French 75 mm field gun (1904) and soixante-huitard for the generation of May 1968 (about 1970).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Seisante appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• c. 1130 – The form seissante is recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 1160 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure writes seixante, with a Latin-style ⟨x⟩.^[3][2]
• c. 1228 – Soissante appears in Gerbert de Montreuil's Roman de la Violette.^[4]
• c. 1380 – The spelling soixante is established.^[2][8]
• 1399 – Soixantaine replaces the older seisanteine.^[2]
• 1550 – The spelling soixante-dix is recorded.^[2]
• 1872 – Littré records page soixante “page sixty”.^[4]
• 1904 – Soixante-quinze is used for the 75 mm field gun.^[2]

Meanings

Numeral

1. sixty: six times ten (60).^[9][4]
2. (ordinal) sixtieth: page soixante.^[3][6]

Noun

1. The number sixty, or the figure 60.^[9][2]

Word family

• soixante-dix
• soixantaine
• soixantième
• soixante-quinze
• soixante-huitard

Related words

• six
• septante
• Latin sexāgintā

Usage notes

In the French of Belgium and Switzerland septante is used instead of soixante-dix “seventy”.^[2]

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 n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d 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 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 556b
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert