vente

Forms

vente f (plural ventes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *vendita (“sale”),^[2][3] the feminine of venditus (“sold”), past participle of vendō (“to sell”), used as a noun;^[4][5][1][6] the Grand Robert and Rey see in it the neuter plural of venditum (“sale”) taken for a feminine singular.^[3][7] The participle itself died out before the first French texts.^[5] Old and Middle French also had vençon (1176), inherited from venditiō.^[7]

Cognate with Italian vendita, Old Occitan venda, Spanish venta and Portuguese venda.^[8][7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Wace's Vie de saint Nicolas (about 1150) it means “value, price”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “action of selling” is found from about 1200.^[4][3] It also named a tax on goods sold at market (1197) and, since about 1283, a due paid to the lord when land changed hands, as in los et ventes (1239).^[4][7] The phrase metre a vente dates from about 1275, mettre en vente from 1539.^[4]

From 1405 it also meant the place where goods are sold, and later the gathering of sellers and buyers at a public sale.^[4][7] In forestry it has named, since 1373, a stand that has just been cut for sale, a sense kept in forest place names such as Les Grandes Ventes.^[7] In 1819 it was used, by borrowing from Italian, for a lodge of the Carbonari.^[7][4] In Canadian French, after English sales, vente is a reduced-price sale and en vente means “on sale”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – First record, “value, price”, in Wace.^[4]
• 1197 – “Tax on goods sold”.^[3][7]
• c. 1200 – “Action of selling”, in Jean Bodel.^[4]
• 1239 – Les los et les ventes “transfer dues”.^[4]
• c. 1275 – Metre a vente “to put up for sale”.^[4]
• 1373 – Forestry sense “cut stand of wood”.^[7]
• 1405 – “Place where goods are sold”.^[4][7]
• 1539 – Mettre en vente in Robert Estienne.^[4]
• 1819 – Boiste records aller à la vente and the Carbonari lodge.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. sale, the act of selling, and selling as an activity: mettre en vente, en vente “on sale”.^[10][4]
2. (law) A contract of sale: promesse de vente.^[10][4]
3. A public sale, the gathering where it is held: vente aux enchères “auction”, vente de charité.^[10][7]
4. (forestry) A stand of wood cut for sale.^[10][7]
5. (history) A lodge of the Carbonari.^[10][4]
6. (Canada) A reduced-price sale: vente de garage “garage sale”.^[7][10]

Word family

• mévente
• revente
• après-vente

Related words

• vendre
• vendeur
• Latin vendō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 232a
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9190
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert