Etymologically
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vingt

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vɛ̃/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec): [vẽɪ̯̃t][1]
  • IPA: /vɛ̃t/[1]

Forms

vingt (invariable, quatre-vingts takes ⟨s⟩ when multiplied and not followed by another number)[2] Old French vint (1080); vingt is an etymological remaking of about 1250.[3][4] The ⟨g⟩ is purely etymological and never pronounced; the ⟨t⟩ is sounded in vingt-deux to vingt-neuf and in liaison.[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French vint, from Late Latin “vinti”, found in inscriptions, a contraction of classical inherited from Latin vīgintī (“twenty”).[5][3][7][4][8][1] The Latin numeral is made of “vi-”, a variant of bi- “two” (compare bis (“twice”)), and “-gint-” “ten”, found in all the Latin names of tens (see trente); “bis” corresponds to Avestan biš, Ancient Greek δίς (dís) and Sanskrit द्विस् (dvís).[3] Wiktionary gives the Indo-European form Proto-Indo-European *h₁wih₁ḱm̥ti.[1] The regular loss of the Latin ⟨g⟩ was undone in spelling in Middle French.[1]

Compare Old Occitan vint, Spanish veinte and Portuguese vinte.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) vint is the cardinal number: u dis u vint “either ten or twenty” (hostages), vint milie Sarrazins “twenty thousand Saracens”.[5]

Semantic evolution

As the first element of compound ordinals it is found in 1226, and as a noun in Joinville (1306).[5] Vingt ans stood for youth by about 1273, and, from the first half of the 17th century vingt meant “a great many” (Guez de Balzac, Quemada finds it in Tristan l'Hermite, 1633), as in Boileau's vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage.[3][10][11] Le vingt for a day of the month is in a Mazarinade of 1650.[10]

Counting by twenties was more widespread in Old French (treis vinz, sixty) than now: it survives in quatre-vingts, which drove out octante, and in the Paris hospital of the Quinze-Vingts, founded by Louis IX for three hundred blind people.[7][9] Bloch and Wartburg think French owes this system to Gaulish, as counting by twenties is characteristic of Celtic peoples (compare Breton daou-ugent, forty).[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Vint, Chanson de Roland.[5]
  • 1226 – In compound ordinals.[5]
  • c. 1250 – The spelling vingt.[3]
  • 1273 – Vingt ans, Adenet.[11]
  • 1306 – As a noun, Joinville.[5]
  • 1633 – “A great many”, Tristan l'Hermite.[10]
  • 1650 – Le vingt, of a date.[10]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. twenty: vingt ans, vingt et un, quatre-vingts.[6][2]
  2. A great many: je te l'ai dit vingt fois.[11][2]
  3. Twentieth: page vingt, l'an mil huit cent vingt.[9][5]

Noun

  1. The number twenty; the twentieth day of the month: on se voit le vingt; a mark of twenty: avoir dix-huit sur vingt.[2][6]

Word family

  • vingtaine
  • vingtième
  • quatre-vingt
  • quatre-vingt-dix

Usage notes

Vingt dieux ! (1920) is a familiar oath.[3] Vingt sous was formerly one franc.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 442a
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse