air French · revision 15857

+ French ''air'' is two words: the air one breathes, inherited from Latin, with the sense “appearance, manner” that grew out of it, and ''air'' “tune”, a sense borrowed from Italian ''aria''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ {{homograph|1|air; appearance}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1119, Philippe de Thaon|origins=grc ἀήρ}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''air''' ''m'' (plural airs)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|air]], [[inh|la|āēr|t=air]] (accusative “aerem”),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|24, 221a) from [[grc|ἀήρ|tr=aḗr|t=mist; air]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) The traditional link of the Greek word with [[m|grc|ἄημι|tr=áēmi|t=to blow]] is now abandoned, and no other explanation is certain.^(DHLF 1992) In the Gallo-Romance dialects it often means “wind”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Cognate with [[it|aria]], from the Greek accusative “aera”, and [[es|aire]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935)

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+ The sense “appearance, manner” grew out of the first through uses such as ''l'air de la cour“ “the atmosphere of the court”, according to Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) Italian ”aria'' developed the same sense.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Grand Robert adds the influence of Old French [[m|fro|aire|t=nest; family; nature]],^(Grand Robert 2005) and Littré took that word as the true source of the sense.^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Philippe de Thaon's ''Comput'' (1119) has ''L'airs tut entur s'estent'', the air that stretches all round the earth.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old forms include ''ar'' (13th century) and ''aer'' (13th–16th centuries).^(DHLF 1992) The sense “wind” is recorded in 1275 and “gust” in 1549, now ''coup d'air'' and ''courant d'air''.^(DHLF 1992) Many phrases rest on the first sense: ''changer d'air'' (before 1475), ''prendre l'air'' (1510, “to go for a walk”, 1669), ''en l'air'' and ''tirer en l'air'' (1660), and ''c'est dans l'air'' (1835).^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) In 18th-century chemistry ''air'' meant any gas (''air inflammable'', 1780), a sense taken over by ''gaz''.^(DHLF 1992) From the late 19th century ''l'air'' is also the domain of flight and aviation (''hôtesse de l'air'', ''armée de l'air'').^(DHLF 1992)

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+ The sense “outward appearance, look” appears in Montaigne (1580):^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) ''avoir l'air'' “to seem”, ''un air de famille'', ''prendre de grands airs'' “to put on airs”.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1119 – ''Airs'' in Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * 1275 – “Wind, moving air”.^(TLFi)

+ * Before 1475 – ''Changer d'air''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1580 – “Appearance, manner” in Montaigne.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1669 – ''Prendre l'air'' “to go for a walk”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1780 – ''Air inflammable'' “hydrogen”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1835 – ''C'est dans l'air''.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|air|alt=Air]], the gas that forms the [[m|en|atmosphere]]: ''air pur'', ''courant d'air'', ''prendre l'air''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # The space above the ground; flight, aviation: ''en l'air'', ''armée de l'air''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Dans l'air'': in the air, about to happen or widely felt.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Appearance, look, manner: ''un air étonné'', ''avoir l'air fatigué'', ''air de famille''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(in the plural)'' Airs, affectations: ''prendre de grands airs''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aérer]]

+ * [[courant d'air]]

+ * [[plein air]]

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+ {{homograph|2|tune}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=semantic loan|attested=1578|origins=it aria}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''air''' ''m'' (plural airs)^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The musical sense is a semantic loan from [[it|aria|t=air; manner; tune]],^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) in which the sense “song” grew out of “manner”, as in [[de|Weise|t=manner; melody]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Spanish “aire” took the same sense from Italian.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1578, in the title of Fabrice Marin Caietain's ''Airs mis en musique à quatre parties'' on poems by Ronsard;^(BHVF)^(Grand Robert 2005) the dictionaries had dated it to Régnier (1608).^(BHVF)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Claude Le Jeune's ''Airs'' followed in 1608.^(BHVF) The word names a melody, sung or played, and a piece for solo voice in an opera (''air d'opéra'').^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007) The phrase ''c'est l'air qui fait la chanson'' means that tone gives words their real meaning, and ''en avoir l'air et la chanson'' “to be what one seems”.^(Larousse)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1578 – ''Airs mis en musique'' by Fabrice Marin Caietain.^(BHVF)

+ * 1608 – Claude Le Jeune's ''Airs''.^(BHVF)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|tune]], [[m|en|melody]]; a song.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|aria]] in an opera: ''air d'opéra''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ariette]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aire]]

+ * [[aérien]]

+ * [[grc|ἀήρ|tr=aḗr]]

+ * [[en|air]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}