plenté

Forms

plenté f (oblique plural plentez)^[1]

• plentet, planté, plentee, pleinté, plaunté, plenteit^[2][3]

The early Anglo-Norman texts write the word with a final ⟨-t⟩, plentét and plented.^[4][5] Chrétien's manuscripts spell it planté.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plēnitās (“fullness”),^[1][7] the abstract noun formed from plēnus (“full”).^[8] Wiktionary notes that it matches plein with the suffix -té.^[1] The older spelling with a final ⟨-t⟩ reflects the Latin accusative plēnitātem.^[9][8]

The FEW counts the modern French adjective plantureux (“plentiful”) among its derivatives, through Old French forms with ⟨plent-⟩ and ⟨plant-⟩.^[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is plentét in the Anglo-Norman Voyage de saint Brendan, of the first quarter of the 12th century.^[4] Greimas dates the word from the Oxford Psalter, which he puts at 1120, in the sense of abundance or a multitude.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word meant fullness and, much more often, abundance or a great quantity.^[12][11] Chrétien de Troyes uses it almost always in the phrase a (grant) planté "in plenty": Pain a planté et veneison "bread in plenty and venison", in Yvain.^[6] In Anglo-Norman it also meant wealth and generosity, and in law the state of a church benefice that is filled.^[2]

Middle French kept it for a great quantity, as in toute planté de grace "all fullness of grace" in a text of about 1341,^[13] and used the bare word as an adverb, "much".^[7] The phrase a plenté is recorded until Montaigne and lives on in the dialects, Norman and Flemish à planté among them.^[7] Modern French kept only the obsolete pleinté.^[1]

Timeline

• 1100–1125 – plentét in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[4]
• 1100–1133 – an Anglo-Norman lapidary, the earliest text in the DEAF's references, and the AND's first citation.^[14][2]
• 1100–1150 – plented and plentet in the Cambridge Psalter, in a manuscript of about 1140.^[5][7]
• c. 1170 – a grant planté in Erec et Enide.^[6]
• 1185–1200 – planté in Floovant.^[15]
• c. 1341 – planté de grace in Middle French.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. abundance; a great quantity or number.^[6][2][12]
2. fullness, plenitude.^[11][12]
3. (Anglo-Norman) wealth; generosity.^[2]
4. (law, Anglo-Norman) plenarty, the state of a benefice being filled.^[2]
5. in a (grant) plenté: in plenty, in great quantity.^[6][7]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word plenté, dates its first citation to the first third of the 12th century, and lists spellings such as plantee, plaunté, pleinté, plentet, plentie and pleynté.^[2] Besides abundance and a great number, the insular word meant wealth, generosity and plenarty, and formed the phrases "in abundance" and "thoroughly".^[2] Middle English borrowed it in the mid-13th century as plente, the source of English plenty;^[9] Middle English also had plenteth from the older form with -t.^[9]

Descendants

• Middle French plenté (→ French pleinté)^[1]
• Norman plenté^[1]
• Middle English plente (borrowed; → English plenty)^[1]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy, the AND, the DÉCT and the DMF head the word plenté;^[6] Foerster's glossary to Chrétien heads it planté.^[6] The spelling plente is also found for pleinte "complaint".^[16]

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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. plenté
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 Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. BrendanS
5. ^ 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. PsCambrM
6. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. plenté
7. ^ a b c d e f Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9:58
8. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. plenté
11. ^ a b c Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. plenté
12. ^ a b c Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:1142
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. plenté
14. ^ 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. plenté
15. ^ Camps, Jean-Baptiste, et al., Geste: a lemmatised corpus of Old French chansons de geste, github (texts by DEAF siglum), p. FloovG
16. ^ ATILF (2017), LGeRM: lexique morphologique du moyen français, version 2.0.0, Nancy: ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, ORTOLANG (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 FR), p. s.v. plainte