jour French · revision 16277

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=2nd half of the 10th century, Passion de Clermont|origins=la dies}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Europe): /ʒuʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Canada): /ʒʊːʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''jour''' ''m'' (plural jours)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|jorn]] (about 980), [[m|fro|jor]] and [[m|fro|jur]] (1050); ''jour'' from 1274.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|jorn]], [[inh|la-lat|diurnum|t=day]].^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|3, 102b) In classical Latin “diurnum”, the neuter of the adjective [[m|la|diurnus|t=of the day, daily]], was a noun meaning “daily ration, daily wage” and “register of the acts of the people and the Senate”; in Late Latin it became a synonym of [[m|la|diēs|t=day]], from which “diurnus” is derived.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Rey traces “diēs” to an Indo-European root expressing brightness, also present in [[dieu]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ “Diēs” itself gave Old French [[m|fro|di]] (842, Strasbourg Oaths), which was soon ousted by “jour” and survives only in [[midi]] and the names of the weekdays.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) “Jour” is a doublet of the learned [[diurne]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|jorn]], [[it|giorno]] and [[ca|jorn]].^(TLFi)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the second half of the 10th century in the ''Passion de Clermont'', ''a ciel jorn'' “on that day”, situating an event in the past.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the first texts the word means the period of one turn of the earth, used to place an event in the past, present or future, and by 1100 a day fixed for a feast; the sense “first day” survives only in ''jour de l'an'' (about 1380).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) About 1050 it was already counted (''dix jours'') and opposed to night, and, from about 1135 the plural meant a lifetime (''les jours de ton âge'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The second main sense, “the light of the sun”, is found about 1100 in the ''Chanson de Roland'' (''si cum li jurz esclairet'' “as the day grows bright”).^(TLFi) From it came “the way a thing is lit” (1572), figuratively “the light in which something is seen” (1588), and ''mettre au jour'' “to reveal” (before 1628) and “to give birth” (1636).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ A third, concrete sense, “an opening that lets light through”, appeared in architecture in 1334.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Percer à jour'' was first a fencing phrase, ''percé à jour de deux coups d'épée'' (about 1616), and came to mean “to see through someone” (1732).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''Se faire jour'' “to force a way through” (1667) became “to appear” in the 1830s.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''Le jour J'', the day fixed for an important event, seems to date from the First World War, like ''l'heure H'' (1917).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 842 – Old French ''di'', from Latin ''diēs'', in the Strasbourg Oaths.^(TLFi)

+ * 2nd half of the 10th century – ''Jorn'' in the ''Passion de Clermont''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1050 – Day opposed to night, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – “Daylight” in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1274 – The spelling ''jour''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1334 – “Opening in a door or window”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1380 – ''Jour de l'an'' in Froissart.^(TLFi)

+ * 1588 – Figurative “aspect, light in which a thing is seen”, in Montaigne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – ''Mettre au jour'' “to give birth”, in Corneille's ''Le Cid''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1732 – ''Percer à jour'' “to see through someone”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1917 – ''L'heure H'', model of ''le jour J''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|daylight|alt=Daylight]], the light of the sun: ''le jour se lève'', ''en plein jour''.^(Larousse)^(Le Robert)

+ # A [[m|en|day]], a period of 24 hours: ''trois jours'', ''jour pour jour''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # The time between sunrise and sunset, as opposed to night.^(Larousse)

+ # A particular day or date: ''le jour de l'an'', ''le jour J'', the day fixed for an event.^(DHLF 1992)^(Le Robert)

+ # In the plural: a lifetime or period: ''finir ses jours'', ''de nos jours'', nowadays.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # An [[m|en|opening]] that lets light through, a gap; in needlework, openwork.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # The light or [[m|en|aspect]] in which something is seen: ''sous un jour favorable''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bonjour]]

+ * [[toujours]]

+ * [[journal]]

+ * [[journellement]]

+ * [[journalisme]]

+ * [[journée]]

+ * [[ajourner]]

+ * [[ajournement]]

+ * [[contre-jour]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aujourd'hui]]

+ * [[diurne]]

+ * [[midi]]

+ * [[la|diurnum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}