avoider

Forms

avoider (present participle avoidant; past participle avoidé; first-person singular present avoit)^[1]

• avoyder^[2]

Etymology

It is an Anglo-French word, recorded only in England.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes it as a variant, from Old French esvuidier (“to empty”),^[1] and Rothwell describes it as the same verb with a different prefix, a- in England beside the continental es-.^[4] The base is vuidier (“to be empty”), from the adjective voide (“empty”),^[5] which the FEW derives from Vulgar Latin *vocitus (“empty”).^[6] Etymonline takes the adjective from Latin vocīvus (“unoccupied”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The AND's first citation is of 1425, in the senses “to make null and void” and “to avoid”.^[2] Rothwell, however, finds legal Anglo-French using the verb for “to make void” by 1285, with the noun avoidance for the vacancy of a benefice and the voiding of a statute at the beginning of the 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

On the continent the verb with the prefix es- meant “to empty, get rid of” and was not used in law, whereas insular French made it a legal term.^[4] Godefroy quotes it from a statute of Henry VI for records carried off or destroyed.^[7] The DMF lists it as regional, Anglo-Norman, for “to annul” and “to make vacant”.^[3] The modern English sense of avoid developed in Middle English from the Anglo-French word.^[4]

Timeline

• by 1285 – used in Anglo-French law for “to make void”, according to Rothwell.^[4]
• 1425 – first citation in the AND.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law) to render null and void.^[2][3]
2. to make vacant.^[3]
3. to avoid.^[2][1]
4. to carry off, take away.^[2][7]

Anglo-Norman

The word is known only from England: the AND heads it avoider, with the spelling avoyder, and keeps apart envoider, “to leave; to become vacant”, first cited from the first quarter of the 14th century.^[2][8] Etymonline derives the English verb avoid, from the late 14th century, from the Anglo-French word.^[5]

Descendants

• English avoid (borrowed)^[1]

Usage notes

A legal word of the Anglo-French statutes;^[7][3][2][6] Godefroy, the DMF and the AND head it avoider, and the FEW lists it among the Anglo-Norman forms under *vocitus.^[7][3][2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. avoider
3. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. avoider
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14:593
7. ^ a b c d Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 1:536
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. envoider