permettre French · revision 17342

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 10th century, Passion de Clermont (permetre)|origins=la mittō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɛʁ.mɛtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''permettre'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|permittō|t=to let go; to entrust; to allow]], adapted after [[mettre]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|8, 251a) The Latin verb is formed from [[m|la|per-]] and [[m|la|mittō|t=to send, let go]]; it meant first “to send towards a goal”, then “to let go”, and, with stress on deliberate choice, “to entrust” and “to leave free, allow”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) This learned form drove out Old French [[m|fro|parmetre]].^(DHLF 1992)^(AND)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|permettere]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Passion de Clermont'' (late 10th century) has ''permetre'' in the sense “to give leave to say or do something”, an isolated record; the verb reappears in 1357 and is rare before 1410.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ French kept only the Latin sense of giving leave, with a few new shades and constructions in the 16th and 17th centuries.^(DHLF 1992) ''Il est permis de'' is recorded in 1538, ''si Dieu le permet'' in 1553, the polite ''permettez-moi que'' in 1547 and ''permettez-moi de'' in 1582.^(TLFi) Palissy (1580) uses it for “to make possible”, and Noël du Fail (1585) for tolerating what one could prevent; the Académie in 1718 adds tolerating what one cannot prevent.^(TLFi)

+

+ The reflexive ''se permettre'', “to take the liberty”, is in Amyot (1559), and ''se croire tout permis'' in Boileau (1668).^(TLFi) Molière's ''permis à vous'' (1669) expressed indifference or contempt, Flaubert's ''permettez !'' (1850s) is a protest.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The past participle gave the noun ''permis'', the document that authorizes (1721), as in ''permis de conduire'' (1905).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 10th century – ''Permetre'' in the ''Passion de Clermont''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1357 – The verb reappears.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – ''Il est permis de''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – ''Se permettre'' in Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1580 – “To make possible”, in Palissy.^(TLFi)

+ * 1669 – ''Permis à vous'' in Molière's ''Tartuffe''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1721 – The noun ''permis''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1905 – ''Permis de conduire''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|allow]], [[m|en|permit]]: ''permettre quelque chose à quelqu'un'', ''permettre que'' (with the subjunctive).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''Il est permis de'': it is allowed to.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # To make possible, [[m|en|enable]]: ''si le temps le permet''.^(Le Robert)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To tolerate, not prevent.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Vous permettez ?'': may I?, ''permettez !'': excuse me! (in protest).^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''Se permettre de'': to take the liberty of; to [[m|en|afford]] to.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[permis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[permissif]]

+ * [[permission]]

+ * [[mettre]]

+ * [[la|permittō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}