affaire French · revision 15901

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 1150}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.fɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''affaire''' ''f'' (plural affaires)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|afaire]]; masculine until the 16th century, of both genders in the 16th and 17th centuries, then feminine.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from the phrase “à faire” “to be done”, from [[à]] and [[faire]],^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)^(FEW|3, 349b) the verb being [[inh|la|faciō|t=to do, make]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The noun was masculine, like other infinitives used as nouns, and Littré thought its feminine ending made it feminine;^(Littré 1873) the royal chancery long kept the masculine (“les exprès affaires du roi”).^(Littré 1873) Littré rejected Chapelain's idea that the word came from [[it|affare]], since it is in French texts from the 12th century.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|afar]] and [[ca|afer]].^(Littré 1873) [[en|affair]] is from Anglo-Norman “afere” (about 1300).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded about 1150 as a masculine noun, “what is to be done”;^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) by about 1155 ''l'affaire de qqn'' was “what concerns someone”,^(Grand Robert 2005) and in 1172 ''avoir affaire de'' meant “to need”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the start it was used of love affairs, a sense now archaic except in ''affaire de cœur'', and of matters of interest, whence “deal, transaction” (''faire une affaire'', ''une bonne affaire'').^(DHLF 1992) In the 17th century it came to mean an embarrassing or tangled business, and in 1690 a lawsuit; hence the modern “affair, scandal” (''l'affaire Dreyfus'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ In the plural ''les affaires'' were public business (1508, ''les affaires étrangères'', Mme de Sévigné, 1680) and economic activity (1788: ''homme d'affaires'');^(DHLF 1992) ''mes affaires'' “my belongings” is found in 1215 and was taken up again in the 19th century.^(DHLF 1992) ''Toutes affaires cessantes'' appears in a 1542 letter.^(BHVF) In Canada ''une affaire'' is any “thing” (''c'est quoi, l'affaire ?''), and ''être d'affaires'' means “to be capable”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1150 – ''Afaire'' as a masculine noun.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1172 – ''Avoir affaire de'' “to need”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1215 – ''Affaires'' “belongings”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1300 – English ''affair'', from Anglo-Norman.^(Etymonline)

+ * 15th century – The first feminine uses.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1508 – ''Les affaires'' “public business”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1690 – “Lawsuit”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1788 – ''Les affaires'' “business, trade”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1926 – ''Affairisme''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A matter, concern: ''c'est mon affaire'', ''une affaire d'honneur'', ''avoir affaire à qqn'': to deal with someone.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Faire l'affaire'': to do, suit, ''faire son affaire à qqn'': to settle someone's account.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(BHVF)

+ # A business deal, transaction; a bargain: ''faire une bonne affaire''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A business, firm: ''diriger une affaire''.^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)

+ # An [[m|en|affair]], scandal, ''(law)'' a case: ''l'affaire Dreyfus''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(plural)'' Business, trade; public affairs: ''un homme d'affaires'', ''les Affaires étrangères''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(plural, informal)'' Belongings, things: ''ranger ses affaires''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(Quebec, informal)'' A thing, thingamajig.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[affairiste]]

+ * [[affairé]]

+ * [[affairisme]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[affairement]]

+ * [[affairer]]

+ * [[faire]]

+ * [[en|affair]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}