chance French · revision 16412

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1175, Benoît de Sainte-Maure|origins=la cadō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃɑ̃s/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''chance''' ''f'' (plural chances)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|chaance]] (about 1175), [[m|fro|cheance]], Picard ''caanche'' (1200).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|cheance]], [[inh|la-vul|*cadentia|t=a falling]], the neuter plural of the present participle of [[m|la|cadō|t=to fall]] (see [[choir]]) taken as a feminine noun.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|2, 27a) Classical Latin already used the verb in games of knucklebones and dice, of the way they fell.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The word is a doublet of [[cadence]], borrowed from Italian.^(Wiktionary)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1175 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's ''Chronique des ducs de Normandie'' as ''chaance'', the way, usually favourable, in which an event may turn out, Jean Bodel's ''Jeu de saint Nicolas'' (1200) has ''caanche'', the fall of the dice.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first the word was neutral, ''bonne'' or ''male chance'', like ''heur'' and ''fortune''; already in Old French the singular took a favourable sense, opposed to [[malchance]] (12th century), while the plural kept the neutral sense “likelihood” (Rousseau, 1762: ''presque toutes les chances contre soi'').^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The dice sense was very common in the Middle Ages and until the 17th century, and survives only in phrases such as ''jouer sa chance''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Chanceux'' dates from 1606 and is far more common in Quebec, where one says ''il est chanceux'' rather than ''il a de la chance'', ''chançard'' dates from 1864.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1175 – ''Chaance'' in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^(TLFi)

+ * 1200 – ''Caanche'' “the fall of the dice”, in Jean Bodel.^(TLFi)

+ * 12th century – ''Malechance''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1606 – ''Chanceux''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1762 – ''Les chances'' “likelihood”, in Rousseau.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1864 – ''Chançard''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|luck]], good fortune: ''avoir de la chance'', ''bonne chance !''^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Chance, the way things fall out: ''tenter sa chance''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(often plural)'' A likelihood, a [[m|en|chance]]: ''il y a des chances que…'', ''avoir toutes ses chances''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # An opportunity: ''c'est ta dernière chance''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chanceux]]

+ * [[malchanceux]]

+ * [[chançard]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[choir]]

+ * [[cadence]]

+ * [[échéance]]

+ * [[malchance]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}