bientôt French · revision 16451

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=14th century (bien tost)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bjɛ̃.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bientôt'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Written ''bien tost'' until the two parts were joined in the 17th century (1636 in Rey, 1643 in the Grand Robert); a 15th-century text has ''bientoust''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|bien|tôt]], first the adverbial phrase “bien tost” (about 1380), in which “bien” strengthened “tôt”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|13/2, 120b) Old French [[m|fro|tost]] continues popular Latin [[la-vul|tostum]], the neuter of [[la|tostus|t=roasted, burnt]] used as an adverb; it must first have meant “hotly”, then “promptly”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ Littré gives Burgundian “betô”.^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the 14th-century ''Chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin'' ''bien tost'' means “very quickly”: ''Car par eux les fossez furent bien tost emplis'' (“for the ditches were very quickly filled by them”).^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Bien tost'' first heightened the old sense of ''tôt'', “promptly”, with no idea of the future, a use kept in literary French (''il eut bientôt fait de…'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The usual modern sense, “in the near future”, appears in 1538, generally with a future or conditional verb.^(DHLF 1992) ''Bientôt après'' is found in the 14th century but recorded by dictionaries only in 1835.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ''À bientôt'', the parting formula, dates from 1835, Littré still called it a neologism.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 14th century – ''Bien tost'' “very quickly”.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1538 – “In the near future”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1636 – The joined spelling ''bientôt''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1835 – ''À bientôt'', ''bientôt après'' in dictionaries.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|soon]], shortly: ''nous reviendrons bientôt''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Nearly (of a time): ''il est bientôt minuit''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''À bientôt'': see you soon.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''C'est pour bientôt ?'': is it going to happen soon? (impatiently).^(Le Robert)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(literary)'' Quickly, in a short time: ''il eut bientôt fini''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Cela est bientôt dit'': that is easier said than done.^(Larousse)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tôt]]

+ * [[bien]]

+ * [[aussitôt]]

+ * [[sitôt]]

+ * [[tantôt]]

+ * [[plutôt]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Bientôt'' is not to be confused with ''bien tôt'' “very early”: ''vous arrivez bien tôt ce matin''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}