Etymologically
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voisin

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vwa.zɛ̃/[1]

Forms

voisin (feminine voisine, masculine plural voisins, feminine plural voisines)[1] Old French veisin (about 1138), voisin from about 1180.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veisin, inherited from Vulgar Latin *vēcīnus, a dialectal (Osco-Umbrian) or dissimilated form of Latin vīcīnus (“near, neighbouring; a neighbour”).[4][2][5][6][7] “Vīcīnus” is derived from vīcus (“district of a town; village”), which Rey relates, like vīlla, to an Indo-European root “*weik-” “household, clan”, also seen in Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”).[2][8]

Cognate with Romanian vecin, Italian vicino, Old Occitan vezin, Spanish vecino and Portuguese vizinho.[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis (about 1140) has veisin for one who lives near another.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Mauvais voisin is found in the 12th century (Roncevaux), and the proverb qui a felon voisin Par maintes feiz en a mavez matin in the 13th.[2][8] As an adjective it meant nearby (Wace, 1160–74), with voisin de from 1291.[4] In the plural it named the people of a neighbouring country (Joinville, 1306) and, by extension, the country itself.[4][2] A person next to one in a given situation is a voisin in 1585, and autrui, one's fellow man, in 1678.[4] Montaigne (1580) used voisin for things that resemble each other, and for nearness in time (1588); en voisin “informally” is in Paul-Louis Courier (1824).[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – Veisin, Gaimar.[4]
  • 1160–74 – Adjective “nearby”, Wace.[4]
  • c. 1180 – The form voisin.[2]
  • c. 1200 – Voisiner.[5]
  • 1240 – Voisinage.[5]
  • 1306 – A neighbouring people, Joinville.[4]
  • 1580 – “Similar”, Montaigne.[4]
  • 1824 – En voisin.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Neighbouring, nearby, adjacent: la pièce voisine, les pays voisins, voisin de, near.[10][1]
  2. Similar, related: des espèces voisines, des idées voisines.[10][1]
  3. Close in time: les années voisines de 1789.[10][4]

Noun

  1. A neighbour: mon voisin de palier, nos voisins, the people next door or of the next country.[1][4][2]
  2. The person beside one: mon voisin de table.[4][6]
  3. (literary) One's fellow man.[4][2]

Word family

  • voisinage
  • voisiner
  • avoisiner
  • avoisinant

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ 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 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 c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 414b
  8. ^ a b 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
  10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert