ataindre

Forms

ataindre (present participle ataignant; past participle ataint; first-person singular present ataing)^[1]

• ateindre, attaindre, actaindre^[1][2][3]

Chrétien de Troyes has the present participle ateignant, the past participle ataint and the first person ataing.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *attangō (“to touch, reach”),^[1][4][5][6] a form of Latin attingō (“to touch; to arrive at”)^[7] remade after the simple verb tangō (“to touch”).^[6][8] The DHLF mentions a possible kinship of the Latin root with Germanic words for “to take”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Chanson de Roland, about 1100, which uses it both of evil reaching a person and of overtaking a fleeing enemy: El Val Tenebres, la les vunt ateignant “in the Val Tenebres, there they are catching up with them”.^[9][10][11]

Semantic evolution

From “to reach, catch up with” the verb came to mean “to equal” (Wace, about 1155), “to hit, touch” and “to obtain”.^[9][5] In Chrétien de Troyes it is mostly catching up with someone or reaching something.^[3] In law it meant to accuse, to prove guilty and to condemn.^[5][12] The form ataindre was still the usual one in the 16th century,^[8] and the modern word is French atteindre.^[9] From the 13th century the past participle gave the noun atainte, “touch, attack”, modern French atteinte.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – ateignet and ateignant in the Chanson de Roland.^[10][11][9]
• 1100–1125 – first Anglo-Norman record cited by the AND.^[12]
• c. 1155 – “to equal”, in Wace's Roman de Rou.^[9]
• c. 1170 – ateignant in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide.^[3][13]
• c. 1175 – ataint in Gautier d'Arras's Eracle.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to reach a place or a person; to overtake, catch up with.^[3][12][9]
2. to touch, hit, strike; to afflict.^[9][12]
3. to equal, match.^[9][12]
4. to obtain, achieve, attain.^[5][12]
5. (law) to accuse; to prove guilty, convict.^[5][12]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word atteindre and first cites it from the first quarter of the 12th century.^[12] Besides reaching, hitting and overtaking, insular legal French used it for finding out, accusing, convicting and attainting someone, and for coming of age.^[12] Etymonline derives the English word attain, from about 1300, from the stem ataign- of this verb.^[15]

Descendants

• English attain (borrowed)^[1]
• French atteindre^[1]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch and the DÉCT head the word ataindre, the AND atteindre, the DMF atteindre.^{[16][3][12][17]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. ataindre
4. ^ a b Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 66
5. ^ a b c d e Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. ataindre
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. atteindre
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25:732
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 83
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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. RolS
11. ^ a b UD Old French PROFITEROLE and UD Middle French PROFITEROLE treebanks, Universal Dependencies (from the SRCMF and the Base de français médiéval; texts by DEAF siglum), p. RolS
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. atteindre
13. ^ 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. ErecF
14. ^ Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. GautArrErH
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 1:617
17. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. atteindre