mettre French · revision 16309

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=first half of the 10th century, Jonas fragment of Valenciennes|origins=la mittō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɛtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mettre'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|metre]], ''mettre'' from the 12th century.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|metre]], [[inh|la|mittō|t=to let go, release; to throw; to send]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|6/2, 185a) Rey describes the Latin verb as an expressive word with a double consonant and no sure etymology, Wiktionary traces it, probably, to [[ine-pro|*meyth₂-|t=to exchange, remove]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) From “to let go” it came to mean “to send”; in imperial Latin it drew near to [[m|la|pōnō|t=to place]], whose uses it restricted, and in popular Latin it took the sense “to put in a given place”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Later Latin added “to serve at table” (whence [[mets]]), “to cause, bring” (“mittere bellum”, 6th–8th centuries), “to spend time” (856) and “to spend money” (11th century).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In eastern France, the Rhône valley and the south-west it competes in the dialects with [[bouter]], of Frankish origin.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Cognate with [[it|mettere]], [[oc|metre]], [[es|meter]] and [[pt|meter]].^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the Jonas fragment of Valenciennes (first half of the 10th century) in the sense “to bring upon, cause”: the people were freed from the peril that God had decided to bring upon them.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Given the range of the Latin verb, ''mettre'' had almost all its senses between the 10th and the 12th century, with a very large phraseology.^(DHLF 1992) It meant to assign a person somewhere (''mettre en prison'', about 980), to drive out (the compound ''forsmedre'', about 980), to bury (''mettre en terre'', 1050), to lay the table (''metre le manger'', about 1155, ''metre les tables'', about 1165), and to put a hand to one's sword or clothes on one's body (about 1100).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Mettre le feu'' and ''mettre fin'' appear in Wace (1160–1174), ''mettre en vente'' in 1283 and ''mettre pied à terre'' in 1377.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From the early 12th century it also meant “to spend (time)”, and about 1170 “to devote (one's energy)”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Mettre en boîte'' “to make fun of” dates from 1910.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * First half of the 10th century – ''Mettreiet'' in the Jonas fragment of Valenciennes.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Metre an terre'' “to bury”, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Metre la main a l'espee'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * Early 12th century – “To spend (time)”, in Benedeit's ''Voyage de saint Brendan''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1165 – ''Metre les tables'' “to lay the table”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1283 – ''Metre en vente'' in Beaumanoir.^(TLFi)

+ * 1377 – ''Mettre pied à terre''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1910 – ''Mettre en boîte'' “to make fun of”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To put, [[m|en|place]]: ''Mettez cela ici.''^(Le Robert)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To put on (clothes, jewellery): ''mettre son manteau''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # To set, lay: ''mettre la table'', ''mettre le couvert''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To take (time), spend: ''Il a mis deux heures pour venir.''^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # To put into a state or situation: ''mettre en colère'', ''mettre en vente''.^(TLFi)^(Le Robert)

+ # To put on, play (a record), switch on (a device).^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Se mettre à'': to [[m|en|begin|alt=begin]] to: ''Il se met à pleurer.''^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mise]]

+ * [[remettre]]

+ * [[démettre]]

+ * [[entremettre]]

+ * [[entremise]]

+ * [[metteur]]

+ * [[mettable]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mets]]

+ * [[admettre]]

+ * [[commettre]]

+ * [[omettre]]

+ * [[permettre]]

+ * [[promettre]]

+ * [[soumettre]]

+ * [[transmettre]]

+ * [[la|mittō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}