confier French · revision 16991

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1357, Jean le Bel, Chronique|origins=la fido}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɔ̃.fje/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''confier'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a reshaping (1357), after [[fier]] “to trust”, of the older [[m|frm|confider]] (about 1300 to the late 16th century), [[bor|la|cōnfīdō|t=to trust, have confidence in]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 1034b) from [[m|la|con-]] and [[m|la|fīdō|t=to trust]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Wiktionary calls it a semi-learned borrowing.^(Wiktionary) Bloch and Wartburg think it too recent to continue a first-conjugation [[la-vul|*cōnfīdō|alt=*cōnfīdāre]], as [[it|confidare]] and [[es|confiar]] do;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) the REW lists the French verb with them under that form.^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Jean le Bel's ''Chronique'' (1357), as ''se confier'' “to put one's trust (in someone)”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 17th century it moved away from the Latin sense to “hand over (someone or something) to the care of a person one trusts” (Montchrestien, 1601).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Linked with [[confidence]], it came to mean “tell (something) in secret” (Racine's ''Andromaque'', 1667), and ''se confier'' “to open one's heart” is found in La Rochefoucauld before 1680.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From 1753 (Buffon) it is also used for “commit to the action of something”, as seeds to the earth.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The old use ''se confier en'' “to trust in” is still common in Amyot's 16th-century translations.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – The older form ''confider''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1357 – ''Se confier'' “to trust”, in Jean le Bel.^(TLFi)

+ * 1601 – “To entrust”, in Montchrestien.^(TLFi)

+ * 1667 – “To tell in confidence”, in Racine.^(TLFi)

+ * Before 1680 – ''Se confier'' “to confide”, in La Rochefoucauld.^(TLFi)

+ * 1753 – “To commit to the action of”, in Buffon.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|entrust]] (someone or something) to the care of a person one trusts: ''confier son enfant à un ami'', ''confier une mission à quelqu'un''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To [[m|en|confide]], tell in confidence: ''confier ses secrets à un ami''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(literary)'' To commit to the action of something: ''confier des semences à la terre''.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Se confier'': to confide in someone; formerly also, to put one's trust in.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[confiant]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[confiance]]

+ * [[confidence]]

+ * [[fier]]

+ * [[fiancé]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}