denier

Forms

denier m (oblique plural deniers; nominative singular deniers)^[1]

• dener, dinier, denyer^[2][3]

The older form is dener, in the Passion and the Roland;^[4][5] denier is recorded from about 1175.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēnārius, first a Roman silver coin worth ten asses and in the late Empire a small copper coin.^[5][6][4] The Latin noun is an adjective, “containing ten”, used as a noun, from dēnī (“ten each”).^[7][4] Gamillscheg relates the fall of the word's value to the general devaluation of money.^[8]

Its Romance cognates include Italian denaro, Old Occitan denier, Spanish dinero and Portuguese dinheiro.^[9] The older form dener is the base of deneree, the amount one could buy for a denier, which became French denrée.^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is deners in the Passion de Clermont, about 1000 by the DEAF's dating, for the Roman coin; the TLFi dates the text to the end of the 10th century and the DHLF to about 980.^{[11][12][5][4]}

Semantic evolution

By the Roland the word also named a French coin.^[5] The FEW explains the plural sense “money” by the denier being the only coin struck until the reign of Louis IX; the sense later spread to the singular.^[10] In Chrétien de Troyes it is the Roman coin, as in Qui trante deniers fu vanduz “who was sold for thirty deniers”, the small coin worth a twelfth of a sou, a thing of least value after a negative, and in the plural a sum of money.^[13]

Old French phrases include li deniers saint Piere about 1175 and denier Dieu, a contribution paid on markets and agreements, about 1283.^[5][4] The word also became a unit of weight in 1256 and named a rate of interest in 1349.^[5] The modern word denier survives in denier du culte and as a measure of the weight of silk thread.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – deners in the Passion de Clermont.^[11][12][5]
• c. 1100 – dener for a French coin in the Chanson de Roland.^[5][14]
• 1121–1125 – the earliest Anglo-Norman record the AND cites.^[2]
• c. 1168 – the plural for money in Erec et Enide.^[5]
• c. 1175 – li deniers saint Piere in the Vie de saint Thomas.^[5]
• 1256 – a unit of weight.^[5]
• c. 1283 – denier Dieu in Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis.^[5]
• 1349 – a rate of interest, in Machaut.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. a denarius, the Roman silver coin.^[13][2]
2. a penny, a small coin worth a twelfth of a sou.^[13][2]
3. a thing of least value, after a negative.^[13][2]
4. in the plural, money, a sum of money.^[13][5]
5. a pennyweight, a unit of weight.^[2][5]
6. a penny paid as a levy or tax.^[2]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word denier 1, first cites it from 1121–1125 and lists the spellings deneer, deneire, dener, denir, denyer, diner and dinier.^[2] In England it was the penny, a twelfth of a shilling, and the AND also records it for a levy or annuity, a pennyweight, a medal, Mammon personified and Peter's pence.^[2]

Descendants

• Middle French denier (→ French denier)^[1]

Usage notes

The word is headed denier in Tobler–Lommatzsch, the DÉCT and the DMF and denier 1 in the AND, and the FEW treats it under Latin dēnārius.^{[15][13][2][10]} The verb denier “to deny, refuse”, which Tobler–Lommatzsch heads denoiier, has a separate source in Latin negare.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. denier
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. denier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 226
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 332
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2553
10. ^ a b c Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3:39
11. ^ a b Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. denier
12. ^ a b Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. PassionA
13. ^ 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. denier
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 2:1392
16. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 2:1396