alibi French · revision 15759

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1394|origins=la alius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.li.bi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''alibi''' ''m'' (plural alibis or (archaic) alibi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|alibī|t=elsewhere]], an adverb derived from [[m|la|alius|t=other]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|24, 316a) to which the legal Latin of the Middle Ages gave its special sense.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) Littré analyses it as “alius” and “ibī” “there”.^(Littré 1873) Latin “alius” is of Indo-European origin, compare [[grc|ἄλλος|tr=állos|t=other]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A document of 1394 records that the chronicler Froissart ''propose son alibi'', swearing that on the day of the alleged offence he had gone with a squire to witness a sale of land.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Besides the legal sense, the 15th and 16th centuries used ''alibi'' for a diversion (1494) and for a ruse or subterfuge (1458, Gréban), as in ''querir vos alibis''; an ''alibi forain'' was a poor excuse, whence ''alibiforain'' (1549), now gone.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ The legal sense has lasted, and in the 19th century the word took again a figurative value, a circumstance or excuse that clears someone, or a diversion from an unpleasant reality: ''trouver dans la musique un alibi à sa tristesse''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse) Dictionaries long treated it as invariable in the plural (''les alibi''); it has been ''des alibis'' since the Académie of 1878.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1394 – An alibi in law (Froissart's case).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1458 – A ruse (Gréban).^(TLFi)

+ * 1494 – A diversion.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – ''Alibiforain''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1878 – The plural ''alibis'' in the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 19th century – An excuse, a pretext.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(law)'' An [[m|en|alibi]]: ''fournir un alibi''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # An excuse or [[m|en|pretext]] to clear oneself.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(literary)'' A diversion from an unpleasant reality.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[autre]]

+ * [[la|alius]]

+ * [[en|alibi]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}