vingt French · revision 17157

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (vint)|origins=la vīgintī}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /vɛ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec): [vẽɪ̯̃t]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /vɛ̃t/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vingt''' (invariable, ''quatre-vingts'' takes ⟨s⟩ when multiplied and not followed by another number)^(Larousse)

+ Old French ''vint'' (1080); ''vingt'' is an etymological remaking of about 1250.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The ⟨g⟩ is purely etymological and never pronounced; the ⟨t⟩ is sounded in ''vingt-deux'' to ''vingt-neuf'' and in liaison.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|vint]], from Late Latin “vinti”, found in inscriptions, a contraction of classical [[inh|la|vīgintī|t=twenty]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|14, 442a)^(Wiktionary) The Latin numeral is made of “vi-”, a variant of [[m|la|bi-]] “two” (compare [[m|la|bis|t=twice]]), and “-gint-” “ten”, found in all the Latin names of tens (see [[trente]]); “bis” corresponds to [[ae|biš]], [[grc|δίς|tr=dís]] and [[sa|द्विस्|tr=dvís]].^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary gives the Indo-European form [[ine-pro|*h₁wih₁ḱm̥ti]].^(Wiktionary) The regular loss of the Latin ⟨g⟩ was undone in spelling in Middle French.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Compare [[pro|vint]], [[es|veinte]] and [[pt|vinte]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) ''vint'' is the cardinal number: ''u dis u vint'' “either ten or twenty” (hostages), ''vint milie Sarrazins'' “twenty thousand Saracens”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As the first element of compound ordinals it is found in 1226, and as a noun in Joinville (1306).^(TLFi) ''Vingt ans'' stood for youth by about 1273, and, from the first half of the 17th century ''vingt'' meant “a great many” (Guez de Balzac, Quemada finds it in Tristan l'Hermite, 1633), as in Boileau's ''vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage''.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)^(GLLF 1989) ''Le vingt'' for a day of the month is in a Mazarinade of 1650.^(BHVF)

+

+ Counting by twenties was more widespread in Old French (''treis vinz'', sixty) than now: it survives in ''quatre-vingts'', which drove out ''octante'', and in the Paris hospital of the ''Quinze-Vingts'', founded by Louis IX for three hundred blind people.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) Bloch and Wartburg think French owes this system to Gaulish, as counting by twenties is characteristic of Celtic peoples (compare [[br|daou-ugent]], forty).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Vint'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1226 – In compound ordinals.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1250 – The spelling ''vingt''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1273 – ''Vingt ans'', Adenet.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1306 – As a noun, Joinville.^(TLFi)

+ * 1633 – “A great many”, Tristan l'Hermite.^(BHVF)

+ * 1650 – ''Le vingt'', of a date.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # [[m|en|twenty]]: ''vingt ans'', ''vingt et un'', ''quatre-vingts''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A great many: ''je te l'ai dit vingt fois''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+ # Twentieth: ''page vingt'', ''l'an mil huit cent vingt''.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The number twenty; the twentieth day of the month: ''on se voit le vingt''; a mark of twenty: ''avoir dix-huit sur vingt''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vingtaine]]

+ * [[vingtième]]

+ * [[quatre-vingt]]

+ * [[quatre-vingt-dix]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[trente]]

+ * [[deux]]

+ * [[la|vīgintī]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Vingt dieux !'' (1920) is a familiar oath.^(DHLF 1992) ''Vingt sous'' was formerly one franc.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}