deviner French · revision 17158

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1155, Wace|origins=la dīvīnus}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /də.vi.ne/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''deviner'''^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*dēvīnō]], the late form of [[m|la|dīvīnō|t=to foresee, predict; to prophesy; to conjecture]], derived from [[m|la|dīvīnus|t=divine; prophet]] (whence [[divin]] and, through the late “*dēvīnus”, [[devin]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|3, 107b)^(Wiktionary) Old French also had the prefixed “adeviner” and “endeviner” (like [[pro|endevinar]]), still used in many dialects, like [[it|indovinare]] and [[es|adivinar]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ Compare [[pro|devinar]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Wace's ''Brut'' (1155) has it for discovering by conjecture or intuition: ''mes cuer devine Que encore hui les vainquerois'' “my heart guesses that you will defeat them again today”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) About 1160 the ''Roman d'Eneas'' uses it for discovering by supernatural means, foretelling.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the Middle Ages it had other senses linked with the word of a god that teaches, reveals or misleads: “to tell, relate”, “to mean”, “to wish” and also “to deceive”.^(DHLF 1992) With a person as object (''deviner qqn'') it is first found in Pascal (1657–62), and the figurative “to sense, glimpse” is also of the 17th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Its derivative [[devinette]], a riddle, dates from 1870.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1155 – To guess, Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – To foretell, ''Eneas''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1165 – ''Devinere'', a soothsayer.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1657–62 – ''Deviner qqn'', Pascal.^(TLFi)

+ * 1870 – ''Devinette''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|guess]], work out by conjecture or intuition: ''deviner un secret'', ''devine qui est là''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To solve (a riddle).^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To sense, make out, glimpse: ''on devinait une silhouette dans le brouillard''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To see through (someone): ''il m'a deviné''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(rare)'' To foretell, as a soothsayer does: ''deviner l'avenir''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[devinette]]

+ * [[devineur]]

+ * [[devineresse]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[devin]]

+ * [[divin]]

+ * [[divination]]

+ * [[divinatoire]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}