parent

Forms

parent m (oblique plural parenz, parentz; nominative singular parenz, parentz)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin parentem (“parent”), the accusative of parēns (“father or mother”).^[2][3][1] The Latin noun was used mostly in the plural for "father and mother", and in imperial and late Latin also for ancestors and relatives.^[4][3] It is an old aorist participle of pariō (“to bring forth”),^[5] from Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- (“to produce, beget”).^[1] Gamillscheg dates the French word to the 10th century.^[6]

In Late Latin the plural parentes already meant "relatives" in general,^[7][3] and Bloch and Wartburg note that the Gallo-Romance dialects often say "our people" both for the parents and for the wider family.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Vie de saint Léger, of the second half of the 10th century, where the plural names the father and mother together, and a later line uses the word for a relative.^[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Both senses of Latin usage were there from the start: the parents, and any member of the family.^[2] About 1050 the Alexis uses the singular for an ancestor,^[2] and the phrase lor proceain parent “their next of kin” appears in 1120–1150.^[2][4] In Chrétien de Troyes the word is common for a kinsman.^[10]

Old French also had a feminine parente “kinswoman”,^[11][12] and the derivatives parenté and parentage.^[1][4] The modern word is French parent, used in the plural for the father and mother and in the singular for a relative.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – parent in the Vie de saint Léger.^[8][9][2]
• c. 1090 – parent in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[13]
• c. 1100 – parenz and parent in the Chanson de Roland.^[14]
• 1121–1125 – the first Anglo-Norman record cited by the AND.^[15]
• 1120–1150 – lor proceain parent “their next of kin”.^[2]
• c. 1170 – parent in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chiefly plural) parent, father or mother.^[2][15][16]
2. forebear, ancestor.^[2][15]
3. kinsman, relative.^[17][2][15]

Anglo-Norman

The AND first cites the word from 1121–1125, for a father or mother, a forebear, a kinsman, the family, and the next of kin.^[15] The feminine parente “kinswoman” is recorded in England from about 1136–1137.^[12] Middle English took the word from Old French as well as Latin,^[18] first as a surname in the late 12th century and as a noun in the early 15th.^[19]

Word family

• parentage
• parenté

Descendants

• Middle English parent (borrowed; → English parent)^[1]
• Middle French parent (→ French parent)^[1]
• Norman parent^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 503
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. parent
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 720
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Rainsford, Thomas (2025), Old Gallo-Romance Corpus, github (the earliest Gallo-Romance texts, lemmatised; texts by siglum), p. SLégerA
9. ^ a b Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. SLégerA
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. parent
11. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:239
12. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. parente
13. ^ 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. parent
14. ^ 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. RolS
15. ^ a b c d e Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. parent
16. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:238
17. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:236
18. ^ 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)
19. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com