lieutenant French · revision 16640

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1260, Étienne Boileau, Livre des métiers (luetenant)|origins=la locus, la teneō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ljøt.nɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lieutenant''' ''m'' (plural lieutenants, feminine lieutenante)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fr|lieu|tenant]], from [[lieu]] “place” and the present participle of [[tenir]], literally “one who holds the place of”, a substitute.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|13/1, 215b)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Compare [[pro|loctenent]], [[es|lugarteniente]] and [[it|luogotenente]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Étienne Boileau's ''Livre des métiers'' (1260) has ''luetenant'' for the man immediately below a chief, who takes his place in certain cases.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ About 1470 Georges Chastellain has ''lieutenant général'', the man to whom the sovereign delegates part of his authority, until the end of the Ancien Régime the holder of royal power in the king's absence.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From 1538 it was also the officer who presided over a seneschal's court in his absence, whence ''lieutenant civil'' and ''lieutenant criminel'' (1549).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In the army it named a rank in 1478 (''lieutenant général de l'artillerie''); Furetière (1690) speaks of the ''lieutenant de la compagnie'', and the modern rank is that of the junior officer below a captain.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the navy a ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' corresponds to a captain in the army.^(DHLF 1992) It is shortened ''lieut''' (1960).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1260 – ''Luetenant'', Étienne Boileau.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1470 – ''Lieutenant général'', Georges Chastellain.^(TLFi)

+ * 1478 – A military rank.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1479 – ''Sous-lieutenant''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – ''Lieutenant civil'', ''lieutenant criminel''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|deputy]], second-in-command: ''les lieutenants de César''; a right-hand man.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(military)'' A [[m|en|lieutenant]], an officer below a captain, ''(navy)'' ''lieutenant de vaisseau''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(history)'' Under the Ancien Régime, an officer standing in for a superior: ''lieutenant général du royaume'', ''lieutenant criminel''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lieutenance]]

+ * [[lieutenante]]

+ * [[sous-lieutenant]]

+ * [[lieutenant-colonel]]

+ * [[lieutenant-gouverneur]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lieu]]

+ * [[tenir]]

+ * [[en|lieutenant]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}