siècle French · revision 15758

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=881, Sequence of Saint Eulalia, seule|origins=la saeculum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sjɛkl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''siècle''' ''m'' (plural siècles)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Seule'' (881), ''secle'' (about 1050–1080), ''siegle'', ''siecle''; written ''siecle'' by the Académie in 1694 and 1718, ''siècle'' from 1740.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|siecle]], earlier “secle”, a form remade after Latin of the popular “seule” (881), [[inh|la|saeculum|t=generation; age; century; in Church Latin, the world]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|11, 44a) Wiktionary calls it a borrowing, the expected inherited form being “*sieil”;^(Wiktionary) Bloch and Wartburg also call it borrowed.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Church Latin sense “the world, worldly life” translates Greek [[grc|αἰών|tr=aiṓn]], itself rendering a Hebrew word for an era.^(DHLF 1992) “Saeculum” can be compared only with [[cy|hoedl|t=lifetime]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[oc|segle]], [[ca|segle]], [[es|siglo]] and [[it|secolo]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'' (881) says that the saint ''volt lo seule lazsier'', wished to leave this world, the earthly life as opposed to life after death.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French the word was above all religious: earthly life (''Alexis'', about 1050), the lay world as opposed to the cloister (Wace, 1160–1174), and the world and its people (''bons fu li secles al tens ancïenur'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Psalters render ''in saeculum saeculi'' as ''en secle de siecle'', “for ever and ever”.^(TLFi) ''Le siècle'' in this sense survives in religious language, as in ''vivre dans le siècle''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ The sense “period of a hundred years” is found from the mid-13th century, and soon ''siècle'' also meant the present age (1258), an age marked by a great person, ''le siècle de Louis XIV'' (about 1675^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)^(Petit Robert 2007); ''le siècle d'Auguste'', 1624), and a very long time: ''il y a un siècle que je ne l'ai vu''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)^(Petit Robert 2007) The romantic ''mal du siècle'' dates from 1833, and ''du siècle'' “exceptional” is a journalistic cliché.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 881 – ''Seule'', earthly life (''Eulalie'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Secle'' (''Alexis'').^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1160–1174 – The lay world (Wace).^(TLFi)

+ * mid-13th century – A period of a hundred years.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1624 – ''Le siècle d'Auguste'' (Guez de Balzac).^(BHVF)

+ * 1740 – The spelling ''siècle'' (Académie).^(TLFi)

+ * 1833 – ''Le mal du siècle''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|century]], a period of a hundred years: ''le dix-septième siècle''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An age, an era: ''le siècle de Louis XIV''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989); ''le siècle des Lumières''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A very long time: ''il y a des siècles''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(religion)'' The world, worldly life: ''vivre dans le siècle''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[séculaire]]

+ * [[séculier]]

+ * [[la|saeculum]]

+ * [[en|secular]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}