moitié French · revision 17159

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mwa.tje/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [mo.t͡ʃe]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''moitié''' ''f'' (plural moitiés)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''meitiet'' (1080), ''meitié'' (about 1155), ''moitié'' (12th century).^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|meitié]], [[inh|la|medietās|t=middle, centre, (late) half]], from its accusative “medietātem”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|6/1, 606b)^(Wiktionary) The Latin noun was formed from [[m|la|medius|t=middle]] (see [[mi-]]) and seems to have been coined by Cicero to translate [[grc|μεσότης|tr=mesótēs|t=mean]]; he apologises for using it, and Bloch and Wartburg take it for a word of familiar speech.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) [[médiété]] is a learned doublet.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|meitat]], [[es|mitad]], [[pt|metade]] and [[it|metà]].^(Littré 1873) [[en|moiety]] comes from the same Latin word.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) ''meitiet'' is one of the two equal parts of an uncountable whole: ''Demi Espaigne vus durat il en fiet, L'altre meitet avrat Rollant'' “he will give you half of Spain in fief, Roland will have the other half”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of a countable whole it is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165).^(TLFi) It soon wavered between a loose sense (''la moitié du temps'', 1690) and an exact one (1340–80), especially in mathematics.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the 16th century ''sa moitié'' came to mean a loved one, probably after Plato's myth of the androgyne, well known in the Renaissance (Héroët, 1542, Ronsard, 1552); it became jocular for a wife in comedy (Molière, 1662).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Old French ''de la mité'' (about 1170) was remade as ''de moitié'' (1596), whence ''être de moitié avec qqn'' (1671); ''moitié … moitié'' is from 1179 and ''moitié-moitié'' from 1318.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * c. 1165 – Of a countable whole.^(TLFi)

+ * 1318 – ''Moitié-moitié''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1542 – ''Sa moitié'', a loved one, Héroët.^(TLFi)

+ * 1662 – ''Votre moitié'', a wife, Molière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1671 – ''Être de moitié avec qqn''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|half]], one of two equal parts: ''cinq est la moitié de dix'', ''couper en deux moitiés''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # About half, a large part: ''la moitié du temps'', ''une bonne moitié''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''À moitié'': half, partly: ''à moitié plein'', ''à moitié prix''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Moitié … moitié'', ''moitié-moitié'': half and half; fifty-fifty.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(familiar, jocular)'' One's other half, wife or husband: ''ma moitié'', ''sa tendre moitié''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[métayer]]

+ * [[métairie]]

+ * [[métayage]]

+ * [[mitoyen]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mi-]]

+ * [[moyen]]

+ * [[demi]]

+ * [[médiété]]

+ * [[la|medietās]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}