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tant

Etymology and origin of the French word tant

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
2nd half of the 10th century, Vie de saint Léger (tam)
Inherited from
Latin tantum via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (tantus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Belgium, France): /tɑ̃/[1]
  • IPA (Canada): /tã/[1]

Forms

tant[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tant, inherited from Latin tantum (“so much; only”), the neuter of tantus (“so great”) used as an adverb.[2][3][4][5][1] Latin “tantus”, from an older “*tam-to-s”, contains, like tālis (whence tel) and tum, the Indo-European demonstrative stem.[3][6]

Cognate with Romanian atât, Italian tanto, Occitan tant, Catalan tant, Spanish tanto and Portuguese tanto.[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the second half of the 10th century the Vie de saint Léger uses tam with an adverb and an adjective, “very, so”: Ewruins, qui tan fud miels “Ebroin, who was so bad”.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the end of the 10th century tant… que introduced a consequence (so much… that), and tant was used with verbs from about 1050 (Tant l'as celet).[2][3] Its use with adjectives and adverbs is now archaic, replaced by si and tellement.[3] Tant que “as long as” dates from about 1180.[3]

Comparisons followed: tant… que replaced Old French tant… comme, en tant que “as, in the capacity of” is a 17th-century calque of Latin in tantum quantum, anticipated by Oresme's en tant comme (1370–72).[3][4][2] Tant mieux and tant pis date from the 16th century, tous tant que nous sommes from 1561, tant et si bien que from 1666, and tant bien que mal from 1872.[3][8][4] As a noun, tant expresses an unstated quantity (à tant par mois).[3][9]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 10th century – Tam in the Vie de saint Léger.[2]
  • c. 1050 – Tant with a verb in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1180 – Tant que “as long as”.[3]
  • 1213 – The diminutive tantet.[4]
  • 1538 – Tant s'en faut.[3]
  • 1561 – Tous tant que nous sommes.[8]
  • 1663 – Tant pis in Molière.[2]
  • 1690 – Tant mieux in Furetière.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. So much, so many: il souffre tant, tant de gens.[10][1]
  2. Tant… que: so much that; also both… and: tant les jeunes que les vieux.[10][1]
  3. Tant que: as long as: tant qu'il y a de la vie.[3]
  4. En tant que: as, in the capacity of.[4][2]
  5. Tant mieux, tant pis: so much the better, too bad.[2][1]
  6. (as a noun) A certain unstated amount: être payé tant par mois.[9][3]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 85b
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tant.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/tant. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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