devant French · revision 16374

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=late 10th century, Vie de saint Léger (davant)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /də.vɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''devant'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''de avant'' (10th century), ''davant'' (late 10th century), ''devant'' (about 1050).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fr|de|avant]], at first written as a phrase, “de avant”, then welded into “davant” and “devant”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|24, 7a) The forms in “de-” appeared early beside those in “da-”, perhaps under the influence of [[dessous]] and [[dessus]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg call the change a substitution of prefix.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The base “avant” continues [[la-lat|abante]], a word of the 2nd century used as adverb and preposition.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|davan]], [[ca|davant]] and [[it|davanti]]; [[es|delante]] and [[it|dinanzi]] are parallel formations on [[la|ante]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a preposition, ''davant'' is found at the end of the 10th century in the ''Vie de saint Léger'', meaning “on the same side as the face of a person, or the visible side of a thing”; the adverb ''de avant'' in the 10th-century ''Sermon sur Jonas'' still meant “before, earlier”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adverb at first had a temporal sense, “before, previously”, now taken over by [[auparavant]]; it survives in some dialects and in the saying ''être Gros-Jean comme devant'' (La Fontaine, 1678), “to be no better off than before”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The spatial sense, “in front, ahead”, dates from about 1050, and ''par devant'' from about 1176.^(TLFi)

+

+ As a preposition it soon came to mean “in the presence of” (early 12th century), kept in legal ''par-devant notaire''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Devant que'' “before” was used with the subjunctive until the 18th century and with the infinitive until the 17th.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) As a noun, ''devant'' meant the lap in Old French; from 1530 it named the front part of an animal or thing, and, from 1671 the front of a house.^(DHLF 1992) The hunting phrase ''prendre les devants'' is used figuratively from 1660.^(DHLF 1992) In African French ''devant'' also means “further on, straight ahead”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 10th century – ''De avant'' “previously” in the ''Sermon sur Jonas''.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 10th century – ''Davant'' as a preposition in the ''Vie de saint Léger''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Devant'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * Early 12th century – Used in the sense “in the presence of” in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1181–1190 – ''Devant que'' “before” in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1530 – The noun names the front part of something.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1642 – ''Devant de cheminée''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1660 – ''Prendre les devants'' in a figurative sense, in Retz.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1678 – ''Gros-Jean comme devant'' in La Fontaine.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Preposition===

+ # In [[m|en|front]] of, facing: ''devant la maison''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # In the [[m|en|presence]] of: ''pleurer devant tout le monde'', ''(law)'' ''par-devant notaire''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Faced with, confronted with: ''égaux devant la loi''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Ahead of, in advance of: ''avoir du temps devant soi''.^(Le Robert)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # In front, ahead: ''passe devant''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Sens devant derrière'': back to front.^(Larousse)^(BHVF)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The front part of something: ''le devant d'une voiture'', ''chambres sur le devant''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The [[m|en|forequarter]] of beef.^(Larousse)

+ # ''Prendre les devants'': to act first, to [[m|en|forestall]] someone; originally a hunting term.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Au-devant de'': towards, to meet: ''aller au-devant de quelqu'un''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[devancer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[avant]]

+ * [[devanture]]

+ * [[auparavant]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Ci-devant'' “formerly” was in common use during the Revolution for the former nobles.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}