nouvelle French · revision 16444

+ {{homograph|1|news}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (nuveles)|origins=la novus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /nu.vɛl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nouvelle''' ''f'' (plural nouvelles)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|nuvele]] and [[m|fro|novele]].^(DHLF 1992)^(AND)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The word for news is [[inh|fro|novele]], [[inh|la-vul|*novella]], the neuter plural of [[la|novellus|t=new, young]] taken as a feminine singular noun.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In Late Latin “novella” meant a young shoot, newly cleared land (about 745) and an announcement.^(DHLF 1992) “Novellus” is a diminutive of [[m|la|novus|t=new]], the source of [[neuf]].^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) It is the feminine of [[nouveau]] used as a noun.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|novella]] and [[pro|novella]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (about 1050) the plural means news of a person: ''Jo atendeie de te bones nuveles, Mais or les vei si dures e si pesmes !'' (“I was waiting for good news of you, but now I see it so hard and so grievous!”).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The singular, the report of a recent event, appears in the ''Voyage of Saint Brendan'' (early 12th century), and the plural in Wace (1155).^(TLFi) ''Bonnes nouvelles'' became the preaching of the Gospel (1535), and ''la Bonne Nouvelle'' the Gospel itself (about 1850).^(DHLF 1992) Phrases include ''vous m'en direz des nouvelles'' (late 16th century), ''vous aurez de mes nouvelles'', a threat recorded by the Académie in 1694, and ''pas de nouvelles, bonnes nouvelles'' (1890).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ From the 16th and 17th centuries it meant what one hears by rumour (1549), then the information given to the public (1659), above all in newspapers (1759); the ''nouvelles à la main'' were handwritten newsletters (1751).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) In African French ''les nouvelles'' are the polite exchange in which a visitor says where they come from.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Nuveles'' “news of someone”, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * early 12th century – The singular, in the ''Voyage of Saint Brendan''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1535 – ''Bonnes nouvelles'', the Gospel.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – Rumour.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1694 – ''Vous aurez de mes nouvelles'' in the Académie's dictionary.^(TLFi)

+ * 1751 – ''Nouvelles à la main'' in Voltaire.^(TLFi)

+ * 1759 – News in the papers.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1890 – ''Pas de nouvelles, bonnes nouvelles''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A piece of [[m|en|news]], the first report of a recent event: ''connaissez-vous la nouvelle ?'', ''une bonne nouvelle''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(plural)'' News of someone: ''donner de ses nouvelles''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(plural)'' The news, in the press or on radio and television.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''La Bonne Nouvelle'': the [[m|en|Gospel]].^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Première nouvelle !'': that's news to me!^(Larousse)

+ # ''Vous aurez de mes nouvelles'': you'll be hearing from me (a threat).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nouvelliste]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|short story}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1414, French translation of the Decameron|origins=la novus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /nu.vɛl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nouvelle''' ''f'' (plural nouvelles)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The short story is [[bor|it|novella|t=imaginary tale]], the word Boccaccio used for the hundred tales of the “Decameron” (1348–1353), properly “piece of news”; the Italian word has the same origin as the word for news.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) [[es|novela]] also comes from the Italian.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1414, in a French manuscript of the ''Decameron'', ''qui contient cent nouvelles racomptees en dix iours'' (“which contains a hundred tales told in ten days”).^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Translations of the ''Decameron'' and of Poggio's ''Facetiae'' gave the model of a genre that replaced the verse fabliau and ''dit'' at the end of the Middle Ages, as in the ''Cent Nouvelles nouvelles'', whose title plays on the word for news, and Marguerite de Navarre's ''Heptaméron''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In modern French it is a short narrative, close to the novel but distinguished from it by brevity, few characters and a concentrated action.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1414 – A French manuscript of the ''Decameron'' calls its tales ''nouvelles''.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 15th century – The ''Cent Nouvelles nouvelles''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|short story]], a [[m|en|novella]].^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The short story as a literary genre.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nouveau]]

+ * [[neuf]]

+ * [[la|novellus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}