aprentis

Forms

aprentis m^[1]

• aprentiz, aprantiz, apprentiz, apprentis, aprentiç, aprentif^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Chrétien de Troyes writes aprantiz;^[2][7][6] aprentif arose when the ending was taken for a suffix and replaced.^[2][7][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *apprenditicius (“meant for learning”),^[1][7][6] an adjective formed with the suffix -īcius on *apprenditus, a Vulgar Latin past participle that replaced apprēnsus.^[6][1] The verb is Latin apprehendō (“to seize; to learn”), formed from ad- and prehendō (“to seize”).^[1][8] The REW lists ⟨aprentiz⟩ and aprentif with the reflexes of the Latin verb, among them Italian apprendere and French apprendre, and gives the Piedmontese loan anprendis.^[9]

The word is a derivative of the same verb as aprendre.^[7] Modern French apprenti is an alteration, in which the old form was taken for a plural.^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval, about 1180, where the word is an adjective: of the knights he strikes, pas ne li sanble Que il soit d'armes aprantiz “it does not seem to him that he is a novice in arms”.^[2][11] The TLFi dates the same passage to 1175.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Tobler–Lommatzsch gives the adjective the sense of unskilled or inexperienced.^[12] As a noun for one who learns a trade under a master it appears in Étienne Boileau's book of the Paris crafts in 1268, with aprentiz and aprentif side by side and the feminine aprentice.^[6] In England it was used from 1293 of junior lawyers in the courts.^[13] The form apprentis is not found after the 16th century;^[6] apprentif and apprentive left the standard language in the 18th but survive in some regions, and apprenti is recorded from 1538.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – aprantiz in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval (1175 by the TLFi).^[2][11][6]
• 1200–1250 – the earliest Anglo-Norman citation in the AND.^[3]
• 1268 – the noun “apprentice in a craft” in Étienne Boileau's book of the crafts.^[6]
• c. 1275 – aprentiç in Berte aus grans piés.^[5]
• 1293 – apprentices of the law in the Year Books.^[13]
• c. 1300 – English apprentice.^[10]
• 1538 – the modern form apprenti.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. an apprentice, one who learns a craft or trade under a master.^[3][6][1]
2. (Anglo-Norman, law) a junior practitioner of the law;^[3][13] apprentice of court, a lawyer.^[3][13]

Adjective

1. inexperienced, unskilled; a novice (in arms).^[12][2]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word apprentiz, with the spellings apprentice, apprentys, aprentiz and aprentis, and first cites it in the first half of the 13th century; besides the apprentice in a craft it has the legal apprentice, the apprentice of court and of the law, and the bond of apprenticeship.^[3] Rothwell points out that the Year Books refer to aprentiz of the legal profession from 1293.^[13] Middle English took it as apprentis,^[3] the source of the English word apprentice, which Etymonline dates to about 1300.^[10]

Descendants

• Middle French apprenti (→ French apprenti)^[6]
• Middle English apprentis (borrowed; → English apprentice)^[3][10]
• Piedmontese anprendis (borrowed)^[9]
• Portuguese aprendiz (borrowed)^[1]

Related words

• aprendre

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch and the DÉCT head the word aprentiz, the AND apprentiz, Godefroy's Complément aprentif and the DMF apprenti.^{[12][2][3][14]} The spelling aprentiz belongs to this entry.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. aprentiz
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. apprentiz
4. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
5. ^ a b Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. BerteH
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 53
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 554
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. PercB
12. ^ a b c Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 1:470
13. ^ a b c d e Rothwell, William (1993), « The Legacy of Anglo-French: faux amis in French and English »; reprinted on the Anglo-Norman Hub, anglo-norman.net
14. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. apprenti