usufruit

Forms

usufruit m (plural usufruits)^[1] Old and Middle French usefruit (13th century), huffruit (1279), usfruit (1305) and usurfruit (1510).^[2] The TLFi also cites usefruis from a 13th-century manuscript of the Digest and usfruiz from 1443.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ūsusfrūctus (“right of use and enjoyment”), a term of Roman law recorded from the 2nd century.^[3][2][4][5] The Latin expression joins ūsus (“use”) and frūctus (“enjoyment, fruit”), and named the right to use and enjoy property belonging to someone else, as opposed to mancipium (“ownership”).^[3][2][6] Bloch and Wartburg describe the Latin term as a juxtaposition.^[4]

In the Middle Ages the word was also written in more French-looking forms, beside the learned spelling.^[4][2] Littré compares Occitan usufrug.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1276, in a charter of Fontevrault in Maine-et-Loire, as a legal term for the right to use another's property and take its income.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

A fairly common legal term, the word has kept the Latin sense.^[2] In the 14th century it appears in deeds reserving to someone the use of a rent for life.^[7][8] In the 16th century Ronsard used it figuratively of the enjoyment of one's years.^[7]

Modern law defines it as a temporary real right to use a thing and take its fruits, without the right to dispose of it, opposed to nue-propriété “bare ownership”.^[3][9] By extension it can mean the enjoyment of such property, or the property itself.^[9]

Timeline

• 1276 – First record, in a charter of Fontevrault.^[3][4]
• 13th century – The forms usefruit and usefruis are found.^[2][3]
• 1279 – The spelling huffruit is recorded.^[2]
• 1305 – The spelling usfruit is recorded.^[2]
• 1411 – The derivative usufruitier is recorded.^[4][2]
• 1510 – The spelling usurfruit is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) usufruct: the temporary right to use property owned by another and to take its income, without the right to dispose of it.^[3][9][6]
2. By extension, the enjoyment of property held in usufruct, or that property itself: elle a l'usufruit de la maison.^[9]
3. Usufruit légal: the right of parents to the income of their minor children's property.^[7]

Word family

• usufruitier

Related words

• usufructuaire
• fruit
• Latin ūsusfrūctus

Usage notes

The word is opposed to nue-propriété, the ownership left to the other party.^[9][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
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. 14, 85b
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert