ville French · revision 15650

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Passion de Clermont (vile)|origins=la vīlla}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /vil/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Canada): /vɪl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ville''' ''f'' (plural villes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''vile'';^(DHLF 1992) ''ville'' from about 1200.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|vile]], [[inh|la|vīlla|t=farm, country house]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|14, 449b) which from the 5th–6th centuries also meant a group of houses around the villa, roughly a village.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In Gallo-Romance it came to mean a town, the towns often having grown up on old rural estates around an ancient city.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992) Latin ''villa'' is related to [[la|vīcus|t=village, quarter]], from the Indo-European [[ine-pro|*weyḱ-|t=settlement, clan]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) It is a doublet of [[villa]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|villa]], [[es|villa]] and [[pt|vila]].^(Littré 1873)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Passion de Clermont'' (late 10th century) calls Bethphage, below the Mount of Olives, a ''vile'', a small settlement, while Jerusalem is a ''ciptad'' “city”;^(TLFi) the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) uses it for a large town, Zaragoza.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old and Middle French it could still mean a rural estate or farm (late 12th century), the sense behind [[village]], and a group of rural houses around a castle.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Classical French and the dictionaries until the 19th century defined it as a settlement enclosed by walls, a feature that no longer counts.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Phrases include ''habit de ville'' “town clothes” (1549), ''hôtel de ville'' “town hall”, ''en ville'' “in town” and ''dîner en ville'' “to dine out”.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) In Louisiana ''la Ville'' is New Orleans.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 10th century – ''Vile'', a small settlement.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * c. 1100 – A large town (Zaragoza, in the ''Roland'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * late 12th century – A rural estate.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – The spelling ''ville''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – ''Habit d'homme de ville''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|town]] or [[m|en|city]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The town as opposed to the country: ''vivre à la ville''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # The town's inhabitants or its administration: ''toute la ville en parle'', ''hôtel de ville''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''En ville'': in town; out (''dîner en ville'').^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[villa]]

+ * [[village]]

+ * [[vilain]]

+ * [[la|vīlla]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}