original

Forms

original adj. and m^[1][2]

• origenal, originel, origynal, orriginal^[2]

The plural originaus is written originaulx and originaux in later texts.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin orīginālis (“existing from the beginning, primitive”), a word of imperial Latin derived from orīgō (“origin”).^[5] Etymonline traces the Latin noun to orior (“to rise”).^[6] The FEW treats the word in its article on the Latin noun, beside the inherited orine “origin, descent”.^[7] Gamillscheg dates it to the 13th century and calls originel a by-form partly fitted to French sound laws.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEAF's first record is the Anglo-Norman Proverbes de Salemon of Sanson de Nantuil, from the middle of the 12th century, where the word is a noun meaning “origin”.^[3][9] The adjective is first dated by the TLFi to about 1240, in originaus pechies “original sins”, and to about 1245 in the Life of Saint Alban: Si ancesur estoient romain original “his forebears were Romans by origin”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

As a noun the word meant origin or source, and since the 13th century also the first written text of a deed, from which copies were made.^[3][10] As an adjective it meant first or primary, belonging to someone by birth, and in pechié original the sin inherited from Adam.^[1][2] A document of 1330 has lettres originales for letters that come straight from their author.^[5] Middle French used veine original for a vital vein.^[11]

The sense “unique, having its own mark” is recorded before 1662 in Pascal, and a noun for an eccentric person in 1657.^[5] Modern French original stands beside originel.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1140–1160 – original “origin” in Sanson de Nantuil's Proverbes de Salemon, an Anglo-Norman text.^[3][9]
• 1204 – first citation in the AND.^[2]
• c. 1240 – originaus pechies “original sins”.^[5]
• c. 1245 – “by origin”, in the Life of Saint Alban.^[5][1]
• 1269 – the original of a letter, as opposed to its copies.^[10]
• 1330 – lettres originales.^[5][10]
• before 1662 – “unique, having its own mark”, in Pascal.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. original, first, primary.^[2][1]
2. by origin, by birth.^[2][5]
3. in pechié original, original sin.^[1][2]
4. original, not a copy.^[2][10]
5. (law, Anglo-Norman) in original writ, the writ that starts legal proceedings.^[2]

Noun

1. origin, source, beginning.^[3][2][11]
2. an original document, as opposed to a copy.^[2][10]

Anglo-Norman

The AND first cites the word from the beginning of the 13th century and lists spellings such as origenal, originel and oryginall.^[2] Its insular senses include the original writ issued by the chancery, Latin breve originale, and original sin.^[2] Etymonline dates English original to the early 14th century, from the Old French word as well as Latin, and notes that its first use is of sin.^[6]

Word family

• originalité
• originalment

Descendants

• Middle French original (→ French original)^[13][5]
• Middle English original (borrowed; → English original)^[6]

Related words

• orine

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch heads the word original, originel and the AND treats originel as one of its spellings,^[1][2] while the DMF and the TLFi have separate entries for French originel.^[12][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 6:1277
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. original
3. ^ a b c d e 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. original
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 c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7:415
8. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 701
9. ^ 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. ProvSalSanI
10. ^ a b c d e 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. 10:242
11. ^ a b 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. 5:638
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. originel
13. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. original