ouest French · revision 16076

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1140, Geffrei Gaimar|origins=ang west}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /wɛst/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ouest''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''West'' (about 1140), ''ouest'' from 1379; the Académie wrote ''oüest'' in 1694, Rabelais has ''westen''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|ang|west|t=west]] ([[en|west]]),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|17, 572a) found as an adverb from the 9th century and as a noun from the 12th, corresponding to German and Dutch “West”, “Westen”;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) these words belong to an Indo-European root also found in [[grc|ἕσπερος|tr=hésperos|t=evening]] and [[la|vesper|t=evening]] (see [[vêpres]]).^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary notes that the French compass points came from English rather than Dutch or Norse.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ [[it|ovest]], [[es|oeste]] and [[pt|oeste]] come from French.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Geffrei Gaimar's ''Estoire des Engleis'' (about 1140) has ''west'' for the direction and the place where the sun sets.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 1379 Jehan de Brie uses ''ouest'' for the wind from the west, and Rabelais has it in compounds (''vent Ouest Norouest'', 1552).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Like the other compass points of English origin, ''ouest'' was long confined to the language of science and the sea; in everyday and literary use people said ''occident'', ''ponant'' and ''couchant''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In 1817 Mme de Staël used ''l'Ouest'' for the western regions of France, and in 1946 Abellio for the Western countries, as opposed to the socialist East before 1990.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In North America ''l'Ouest'' is the region of the plains and the Rockies (''la conquête de l'Ouest'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Familiar ''être à l'ouest'' means “to be out of it”.^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1140 – ''West'' in Gaimar.^(TLFi)

+ * 1379 – ''Ouest'' “west wind”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1534 – ''Westen'' in Rabelais.^(TLFi)

+ * 1817 – ''L'Ouest'' of France, in Mme de Staël.^(TLFi)

+ * 1946 – The Western countries.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1950 – ''Ouest-allemand''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|west]]: ''le soleil se couche à l'ouest'', ''vent d'ouest''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(capitalised)'' The western part of a country: ''l'Ouest de la France'', ''la conquête de l'Ouest''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(capitalised)'' The West, the Western countries.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Être à l'ouest'': to be out of it, spaced out.^(Larousse)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # West, western: ''la côte ouest''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ouest-allemand]]

+ * [[nord-ouest]]

+ * [[sud-ouest]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nord]]

+ * [[sud]]

+ * [[est]]

+ * [[vêpres]]

+ * [[en|west]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}