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enjöir

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Etymology and origin of the Old French word enjöir

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1170 Vie de saint Edouard le Confesseur More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Latin gaudeō

Forms

enjöir[1]

enchoÿr is an Anglo-Norman spelling.[2] The AND also has enjoyr, enjuer and engoir.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French en- + joir,[2][4] the verb joir being from Vulgar Latin *gaudiō, from gaudeō (“to rejoice”), whose infinitive moved to the fourth conjugation.[2] Tobler–Lommatzsch equates it with esjoir, formed with another prefix.[1] Rothwell notes that the prefixes of these verbs ought to have made different senses but in practice did not, so their meanings largely overlap.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record the DEAF gives is the Anglo-Norman Vie de saint Edouard le Confesseur, about 1170, where the verb is reflexive, “to rejoice”.[2][6] The Jeu d'Adam, of the second half of the 12th century, has Mal s'enjoïst qui ensi sojorne “he who lingers like this has little joy”.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use, “to feel joy”, is in the Lorraine Dialogue de l'âme of about 1200: tant cum nos or plorons, tant enjoïrons el secle qui est avenir “as much as we weep now, so much shall we rejoice in the world to come”.[2][8] The reflexive use runs from about 1170 to the middle of the 14th century, in the sermons of Gregory on Ezekiel and many Anglo-Norman texts.[2][1]

From 1350–1351 the English statutes use the verb in law for enjoying the benefit of rights, and in the mid-14th century enjoïr de meant to profit from something.[2][9] The verb did not survive in French, while its simple form became French jouir.[5]

Timeline

  • 1150–1175 – the first citation in the AND.[3]
  • c. 1170 – reflexive in the Vie de saint Edouard le Confesseur, an Anglo-Norman text.[2][6]
  • 1150–1200 – s'enjoïst in the Jeu d'Adam.[2][7]
  • c. 1200 – enjoïrons “we shall rejoice” in the Dialogue de l'âme, from Lorraine.[2][8]
  • 1350–1351 – in law, “to enjoy the benefit of”, in the statutes of the realm.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) to feel joy, rejoice.[2][1]
  2. (reflexive) to rejoice, be glad.[2][1][3]
  3. (transitive) to give joy to.[3]
  4. (law) to enjoy, have the benefit or use of a right or possession.[2][3]
  5. (with de) to profit from, have the free use of.[2][9]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the verb enjoir, first cited in the third quarter of the 12th century, with the spellings enjoyr, enjoier, enjoyer, engoir, enchoyr and enjuer; besides rejoicing and giving joy it records the senses of enjoying and having the benefit or use of something, and of enjoying a right.[3] Rothwell notes that Anglo-French had joir, enjoir, esjoir and also ajoir, all found with the change of conjugation of enjoier.[5] The MED derives the Middle English verb enjoien from enjoïr and enjoiier,[10] the source of the English verb enjoy.[11]

Word family

  • enjoïssement

Descendants

  • Middle French enjouir[9]
  • Middle English enjoien (borrowed; → English enjoy)[10]
  • esjoir
  • enjoiier

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch heads the verb enjöir, Godefroy enjoir, the DEAF enjoïr within its article joïr, the AND enjoir and the DMF enjouir.[1][2][3][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 3:433
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. joïr
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. enjoir
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4:78
  5. ^ a b c Rothwell, William (1991), « The Missing Link in English Etymology: Anglo-French »; reprinted on the Anglo-Norman Hub, anglo-norman.net
  6. ^ 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. EdConfVatS
  7. ^ 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. AdamE
  8. ^ a b Stein, Achim; Kunstmann, Pierre; Gleßgen, Martin-D., eds., Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam, version 4 (lemmatised corpus of Old French texts, after A. Dees), Universität Stuttgart, github.com/michaniets/NCA (texts by DEAF siglum), p. DialAmeB
  9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. enjouir
  10. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  11. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Enjöir.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fro/enj%C3%B6ir. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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