aveugle French · revision 16987

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=la oculus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.vœɡl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aveugle''' (plural aveugles)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|avogle]] (about 1050) and [[m|fro|avugle]], ''aveugle'' is recorded in the 13th century, but the verb [[aveugler]] already early in that century.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Medieval texts also have ''aveules'', ''awgle'' and ''avegles''.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|avogle]], [[inh|la-lat|*ab oculīs|t=without eyes]], from [[m|la|oculus|t=eye]], a phrase that Bloch and Wartburg think was coined in medical Latin and passed into common speech; its sound development shows the influence of the learned language.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|24, 35b) The preposition [[m|la|ab]] is common in Latin phrases expressing absence.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The phrase may be a calque of [[grc|ἀπὸ ὀμμάτων|tr=apò ommátōn|t=without eyes]],^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) but Rey thinks more likely a fuller phrase with [[la|orbus|t=bereft]], meaning “bereft of eyes”.^(DHLF 1992) A derivation from [[la-lat|alboculus|t=white-eyed]], used in medical Latin of a person with cataract, fits the sense less well.^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary also mentions [[xtg|exops|t=eyeless]], and notes that the cluster /kl/ did not develop as usual, so that the word may be semi-learned; popular and dialect forms such as ⟨aveuil⟩ show the regular outcome.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The word replaced the Old French [[m|fro|cieu]], from [[m|la|caecus]], and [[m|fro|orb]], from the same Latin adjective “bereft”.^(DHLF 1992) Cognate with [[pro|avogol]], [[wa|aveûle]], [[pcd|aveule]] and [[roa-oit|avocolo]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (about 1050) has ''avogle'' “unable to see”.^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Figurative senses came quickly: “whose judgment is clouded by passion” (13th century), then in classical French “that clouds the judgment”, of fortune or fate (1629), and of feelings that allow no reasoning, as in ''une confiance aveugle''.^(DHLF 1992) ''Serpent aveugle'' was the slow-worm (1562).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ A series of metonymies gave “where one cannot see clearly”, of a dark room (second half of the 13th century), “letting no light through”, as in ''fenêtre aveugle'' (16th century), and in anatomy “closed at one end”, as in ''intestin aveugle'' (1636), compare [[cæcum]].^(DHLF 1992) From the noun come ''à l'aveugle'' “without seeing”, figuratively “without thought” (1669),^(DHLF 1992) and the simile ''crier comme un aveugle qui a perdu son bâton'', found from 1611.^(BHVF) In the 20th century it also qualifies what is done without seeing, as an ''opération aveugle''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Avogle'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 13th century – The form ''aveugle'';^(DHLF 1992) “blinded by passion”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 16th century – ''Fenêtre aveugle''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1562 – ''Serpent aveugle'' “slow-worm”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1611 – ''Crier comme un aveugle qui a perdu son bâton''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1636 – ''Intestin aveugle''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1669 – ''À l'aveugle''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|blind|alt=Blind]], unable to see: ''devenir aveugle'', ''être aveugle de naissance''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Blind, lacking judgment or unwilling to see the truth: ''La passion le rend aveugle.''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Unquestioning, unchecked by reason: ''une confiance aveugle''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(architecture)'' Blind, letting no light through: ''fenêtre aveugle'', ''(anatomy)'' closed at one end.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A blind person.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''À l'aveugle'': blindly, without seeing or without thinking.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aveuglement]]

+ * [[aveugler]]

+ * [[aveugle-né]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[œil]]

+ * [[cæcum]]

+ * [[la|oculus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The proverb ''il n'est pire aveugle que celui qui ne veut pas voir'' means “there are none so blind as those who will not see”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}