bail French · revision 15924

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=c. 1250|origins=la bāiulus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /baj/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bail''' ''m'' (plural baux)^(Wiktionary)

+ Plural ''baux''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a back-formation from [[bailler]] “to give, hand over”,^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|1, 206b) which is [[inh|la|bāiulō|alt=bāiulāre|t=to carry on one's back]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Latin verb is from [[m|la|bāiulus|t=porter]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It appears about 1250 (''Livre de justice''), in the sense of guardianship of a minor, a very common meaning in the old law.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French ''bail'' meant guardianship (Beaumanoir defines it), power, and simply the act of giving, a sense that lasted into the 16th century;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) Loysel writes that ''le mari est bail de sa femme''.^(Littré 1873) The modern sense, a contract by which one party lets another use a thing for a set time and price, is recorded in 1264 and became the usual one in the 16th century.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) In some provinces, notably the Dauphiné, ''bail'' kept the old sense “giving” in legal phrases such as ''bail en payement''.^(TLFi)

+

+ Familiarly ''c'est un bail !'' means “it's been ages!” (''un beau bail'', Vidocq 1829, ''un joli bail'', 1901).^(BHVF)^(Petit Robert 2007) In Anglo-Norman ''bail'' also meant delivery into the custody of sureties.^(AND)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1250 – ''Bail'' “guardianship”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1264 – A lease, a contract of letting.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * c. 1283 – Beaumanoir's definition of ''bail''.^(Littré 1873)

+ * c. 1270 – ''Bailleur''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1829 – ''C'est un beau bail'' “a long time”.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|lease]]: a contract letting property for a fixed time and rent: ''signer un bail'', ''bail commercial'', ''prendre à bail'': to lease.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # The document recording it.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''C'est un bail !'': it's been ages!^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bailleur]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bailler]]

+ * [[bailli]]

+ * [[en|bail]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A slang ''bail'' (plural ''bails'') “thing, business, stuff” is a different word, borrowed from [[ht|bagay]], itself from French [[bagage]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}