divers French · revision 16830

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1119, Philippe de Thaon, Comput|origins=la dīvertō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /di.vɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''divers''' (feminine diverse, masculine plural divers, feminine plural diverses)^(Wiktionary)

+ Feminine ''diverse''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|dīversus|t=turned in opposite directions; opposed; different]], the past participle used as an adjective of [[m|la|dīvertō|t=to turn aside]] (see [[divertir]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|3, 107a)^(Wiktionary) The Latin adjective went on to mean “opposite, contrary, hesitating” and, in Late Latin, “several” in the plural.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Rey and Bloch and Wartburg think that spoken Latin must also have given it the sense “wicked”, well attested in Old and Middle French (“cruel, bad, wild”), in [[pro|divers]] and in [[it|diverso]]; the Gallo-Romance forms also meant “strange, odd”, still the case in some dialects.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Compare [[es|diverso]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Philippe de Thaon's ''Comput'' (1119) has ''les divers tens'', “the different seasons”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The GLLF dates the sense “of various kinds” to the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1080): ''tante gent diverse''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Jean de Meun (1269–78) uses it of a fickle person, and Old French writers of a treacherous or cruel one: the ''Roman de la Rose'' has ''diverse et muable'' “fickle and changeable”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992) Modern French kept only the classical senses “different” and “changing”; in the 17th century it still often meant “opposite, contrary”, as in Molière.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Placed before a plural noun it serves as an indefinite adjective, “several, sundry”.^(DHLF 1992) The press phrase ''faits divers'' (1838), news items of daily life, often crimes, became a lexicalized compound.^(DHLF 1992) The derivative [[diversement]] dates from about 1119, and [[diversité]] is borrowed from Latin (about 1165).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1080 – ''Tante gent diverse'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1119 – “Different”, Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1165 – [[diversité]].^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1269–78 – “Fickle”, Jean de Meun.^(TLFi)

+ * 17th century – “Contrary” still current.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1838 – ''Faits divers''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having several different aspects; varied, [[m|en|diverse]]: ''une population très diverse''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' Different from one another: ''les divers sens d'un mot''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(plural, before the noun)'' Several, [[m|en|various]], sundry: ''en diverses occasions''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Faits divers'': news items, minor news, ''frais divers'', sundry expenses.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(classical)'' Opposed, contrary.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[diversement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[diversité]]

+ * [[divertir]]

+ * [[verser]]

+ * [[la|dīversus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}