feu French · revision 16409

+ French has two words spelled ''feu'': the noun “fire”, from Latin ''focus'', and the adjective ''feu'' “the late (deceased)”, from popular Latin ''*fatutus''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

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+ {{homograph|1|fire}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 881, Séquence de sainte Eulalie|origins=la focus}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fø/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''feu''' ''m'' (plural feux)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''fou'' (9th century), ''foc'', ''fu'', ''feu'' from the 12th century.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun “fire” is [[inh|fro|fu]], [[inh|la|focus|t=hearth, fireplace]], which already in imperial Latin was used for “fire” and displaced [[m|la|ignis|t=fire]] (see [[igné]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 651b)^(Wiktionary) In Latin “focus” also meant a pyre, a brazier and, figuratively, the family; the Romans linked it with “forēre” “to heat”.^(DHLF 1992) The word is not related to [[de|Feuer]] and [[en|fire]], as Littré and Wiktionary point out.^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

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+ Cognate with [[it|fuoco]], [[oc|fuòc|alt=fuoc]], [[ca|foc]], [[es|fuego]], [[pt|fogo]] and [[ro|foc]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 881 in the ''Séquence de sainte Eulalie'', of the pyre into which the saint is thrown: ''Enz enl fou la getterent'' “they threw her into the fire”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Most senses appear in Old French: the flames of Pentecost (second half of the 10th century), a spark (''Chanson de Roland''), the fire of hell (1120–1150), cooking fire (about 1160), lightning (about 1200), the hearth (1228) and, by extension, a household, a family (1260), whence ''n'avoir ni feu ni lieu''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The fire of the eyes is in the ''Passion'' of Clermont, and the heat of passion, anger (about 1150) and love soon after.^(TLFi)

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+ From the old ordeal by fire comes ''mettre sa main au feu'' (before 1549), and, from destruction ''au feu !'' (15th century) and ''à feu et à sang'' (1530).^(DHLF 1992) As a source of light it gave ''couvre-feu'', and as a signal ''feu rouge'' (1865, on the railways) and, figuratively, ''feu vert'' (about 1955–1960); as the discharge of firearms (1572), ''faire long feu'' (1826) and ''mettre le feu aux poudres'' (1690).^(DHLF 1992) The Old French form ''fou'' survives in ''fouace'' and ''fouage''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 881 – ''Fou'' in the ''Séquence de sainte Eulalie''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – A spark, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – Cooking fire, in the ''Roman d'Eneas''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1260 – A household, in Étienne Boileau.^(TLFi)

+ * 1414 – ''Feu de joie''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1530 – ''À feu et à sang''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1572 – The fire of guns.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1865 – ''Feu rouge'' on the railways.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|fire]]; a fire in a hearth or in the open: ''faire du feu'', ''feu de camp''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A destructive fire, a blaze: ''au feu !'', ''mettre le feu à''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Heat for cooking: ''à feu doux'', ''sur le feu'', in preparation.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A light; a [[m|en|signal]]: ''feu rouge'', ''les feux d'une voiture'', ''donner le feu vert''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The firing of guns: ''faire long feu'', ''cessez-le-feu''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Ardour, passion: ''le feu de la colère''.^(TLFi)

+ # ''(dated)'' A household: ''un village de cent feux''.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[couvre-feu]]

+ * [[cessez-le-feu]]

+ * [[pare-feu]]

+ * [[pot-au-feu]]

+ * [[contre-feu]]

+ * [[fouée]]

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+ {{homograph|2|the late}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=11th century (fadude)|origins=la fātum}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fø/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''feu''' (feminine feue, masculine plural feus, feminine plural feues)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Fadude'' (feminine, 11th century), then ''faü'', ''feü''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The adjective “late” comes from popular Latin [[inh|la-vul|*fātūtus|t=who has fulfilled his destiny]], derived from [[m|la|fātum|t=fate, destiny]] (see [[fée]]).^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|3, 436b)^(Wiktionary) At first it meant “having a good or bad destiny”, as in “mal faüt” (“Vie de saint Alexis”), hence “one who has fulfilled his destiny”; this sense drove out the first by the 13th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The word is found only in French, Old Occitan “mal fadat” did not develop the same way, and [[it|fu]] in “la fu regina” is borrowed from French.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Littré thought the derivation from “fātum” a conjecture.^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the 11th century as the feminine ''fadude'', and in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' as ''mal faüt'' “ill-fated, unhappy”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By the 13th century only the sense “deceased” remained.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It is now legal, literary or jocular, placed before the noun: ''feu Monsieur X'', ''la feue reine''; before an article or possessive it stays invariable, as in Feydeau's ''Feu la mère de Madame''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(law, literary)'' The late, deceased: ''feu son père'', ''la feue reine''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[foyer]]

+ * [[fouace]]

+ * [[fougasse]]

+ * [[focal]]

+ * [[fusil]]

+ * [[fée]]

+ * [[la|focus]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}