client French · revision 17181

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1437, Coutumes d'Anjou et du Maine (clienton, 1345)|origins=la cliēns}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kli.jɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''client''' ''m'' (plural clients, feminine cliente)^(Wiktionary)

+ The derivative ''clienton'' is found in 1345.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|cliēns|t=protégé of a patron; vassal]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|2, 779b)^(Wiktionary) In Rome a “cliens” was the plebeian who put himself under the protection of a patrician, his “patronus” (see [[patron]]); it also named a vassal person or people among the Celts, and in Medieval Latin a vassal or a household servant (11th century).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The origin of the Latin word is unknown, perhaps Etruscan; it has also been taken as a participle of a root of the family of [[m|la|clīnō|t=to lean]] (see [[incliner]]).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In 1437 the ''Coutumes d'Anjou et du Maine'' use it for a person who entrusts his interests to a lawyer.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) Richelet in 1680 thought this use a little old.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The 16th century took up the political sense again: one who places himself under a great man's protection (1538) and, in Roman history, the client of a patrician (1543).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The idea of payment then won over that of protection: a doctor's patient was his ''client'' (1845), and in 1826 the word meant a buyer, from 1832 a regular customer, replacing [[pratique]] and [[chaland]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In Rome it was the patron who bought from his clients, which is why English still calls a customer a [[en|patron]].^(DHLF 1992) In Africa and Madagascar ''client'' can mean the usual seller; in familiar French ''être client'' means to be keen on something.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1345 – ''Clienton''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1437 – A lawyer's client.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – A great man's protégé, Robert Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1543 – The client of a Roman patrician.^(TLFi)

+ * 1826 – A buyer.^(TLFi)

+ * 1832 – A regular customer.^(TLFi)

+ * 1845 – A doctor's patient, Bescherelle.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|customer]], a person who buys from a shop or business: ''un bon client'', ''le client est roi''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person who pays for professional services: ''les clients d'un avocat, d'un notaire''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(computing)'' A program or computer that requests a service from a [[m|en|server]].^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Être client'': to be keen, interested.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(Ancient Rome)'' A plebeian under the protection of a patrician, ''(dated)'' a protégé.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[clientèle]]

+ * [[patron]]

+ * [[chaland]]

+ * [[la|cliēns]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}