enfermer French · revision 16718

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1170, Marie de France, Lais|origins=la firmus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''enfermer'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''enfermer'', ''anfermer'', also ''enfremer''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|en-|fermer]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|3, 574a) The verb [[fermer]] continues [[la|firmō|t=to make firm, strengthen]], from [[m|la|firmus|t=firm]]; it meant “to make firm, fortify” before “to close”, a sense that appears in the 12th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Marie de France's ''Lais'' (about 1170) has it in the sense “to put in a completely closed place”: ''En un cofre les anfermat'' “she shut them in a chest”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The idea is the removal of any way out: one shuts a person in to stop them leaving, or a thing to put it away, or one surrounds a piece of ground with hedges or walls (1538).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) From this came “to surround (an enemy)” (Corneille, 1640), now obsolete, and “to contain, include” (Corneille, 1635).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Thomas Corneille (1656) uses it without object for locking someone up as mad.^(TLFi) The figurative use is recorded in 1851 and the reflexive ''s'enfermer dans le silence'' before 1778; in a race, ''enfermer'' a rival (1910) is to box him in.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1170 – “To shut in”, Marie de France.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – “To enclose (land)”, Robert Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – The derivative [[enfermement]].^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1635 – “To contain”, Corneille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1640 – “To surround”, Corneille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1656 – “To shut up in an asylum”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1910 – In racing, “to box in”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To shut in, [[m|en|lock up]] (a person or animal): ''enfermer un oiseau dans une cage''; to [[m|en|imprison]]; to commit (to an asylum).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To put away (a thing) in a closed place: ''enfermer des papiers dans un tiroir''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(literary)'' To enclose, surround; to contain.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(sport)'' To box in (a competitor).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''S'enfermer'': to shut oneself in, ''(figurative)'' to retreat into: ''s'enfermer dans le silence''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[enfermement]]

+ * [[renfermer]]

+ * [[renfermé]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fermer]]

+ * [[ferme]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}