autrefois French · revision 16692

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1160, Benoît de Sainte-Maure (autrefeiz)|origins=la alter, la vicis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /o.tʁə.fwa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''autrefois'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|autre|fois]], literally “another time”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873) [[fois]] continues [[la|vicis|alt=vicēs|t=turns, successions]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|14, 411a) Littré points out that, from this literal sense, Old French used it of the future as well as of the past.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Benoît de Sainte-Maure (1160) has ''autrefeiz''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 13th century Villehardouin writes ''j'i ai esté autre fois'' “I have been there before”, while Froissart still uses ''autre fois'' for “another time, on another occasion” in the future.^(Littré 1873) The modern sense, “in a time now past”, usually opposed to the present, is the only one left.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) Poets of the late 19th century used it as a noun, ''l'autrefois'' (Verhaeren, 1895, Jammes, 1898 and 1906).^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1160 – ''Autrefeiz'', Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 13th century – “Previously”, Villehardouin.^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1895 – The noun ''l'autrefois'', Verhaeren.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|formerly]], in the past, once: ''cet homme autrefois si énergique'', ''d'autrefois'', of old, of former times: ''les mœurs d'autrefois''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(literary)'' ''L'autrefois'': the past.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[jadis]]

+ * [[fois]]

+ * [[autre]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}