faon French · revision 15968

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=first half of the 12th century, Oxford Psalter|origins=la fētus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''faon''' ''m'' (plural faons)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|feün]] (about 1120), [[m|fro|foün]] (about 1170); ''faon'' from 1549; also ''fan'' in the 16th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|feün]], [[inh|la-vul|*fētō|t=young of an animal]] (accusative “*fētōnem”),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 486b) from classical [[la|fētus|t=bearing, offspring; litter]] (see [[fœtus]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The spelling with ⟨a⟩ follows [[paon]] and [[taon]], whose Latin vowels likewise met and contracted when the consonant between them was lost.^(TLFi)

+

+ The formation is only Gallo-Romance; compare [[pro|fedon|t=lamb]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) Littré rejected the idea of a derivation from [[la|īnfāns|t=child]], since “faon” had two syllables in the old language.^(Littré 1873) [[en|fawn]] comes from French.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Oxford Psalter'' (first half of the 12th century) has ''feün'' for the young of any animal;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) about 1170 Marie de France's ''Guigemar'' has a hind ''od un foün'', with her fawn.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the classical period ''faon'' could be the young of any beast, La Fontaine's lioness has lost her ''faon''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) The special sense, the young of a deer, appears from the first records (about 1170) and is the only modern one, Robert Estienne records it in 1549.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) The verb ''faonner'' “to give birth to a fawn” is even older (1121–1134, ''feüner'').^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1120 – ''Feün'' in the ''Oxford Psalter''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1121–1134 – ''Feüner''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1170 – ''Foün'' “fawn” in Marie de France.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – The spelling ''faon''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|fawn]]: the young of a deer, fallow deer or roe deer.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' The young of any wild animal.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[faonner]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fœtus]]

+ * [[la|fētus]]

+ * [[en|fawn]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}