âge French · revision 17348

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (edage)|origins=la aevum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /aʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ɑʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''âge''' ''m'' (plural âges)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|edage]], [[m|fro|eage]] and [[m|fro|aage]], ''aage'' was still written in the 16th and 17th centuries, beside ''âge'' with a circumflex.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ Old French also had [[m|fro|edet]], [[m|fro|edé]] and [[m|fro|aé]], the direct outcome of the Latin accusative ''aetātem''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|eage]], [[inh|la-vul|*aetāticum]], from [[la|aetās|t=lifetime; time of life]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary) Bloch and Wartburg, and Rey as an alternative, form it instead in French from Old French [[m|fro|aé]] (from “aetātem”), a short form that it soon pushed out; this “-age” word was made only in northern France.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Latin “aetās” is a derivative of [[m|la|aevum|t=time, duration; life]], also the source of [[m|la|aeternus|t=eternal]], and continues an Indo-European name of duration and vital force, “*ai-w-”, seen in [[grc|αἰών|tr=aiṓn]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ The other Romance languages continue “aetātem”: [[it|età]], [[ca|edat]], [[es|edad]], [[pt|idade]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Littré gives Picard [[m|pcd|ache]] and [[pro|atge]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Chanson de Roland'' has ''edage'' in the sense “life, lifetime”: ''Qui durerat à trestout ton edage'' (“which will last all your life”).^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “time a person has lived” appears in 1160 and is now the main one.^(DHLF 1992) Old French also used ''aage'' for legal majority (1180), until the 17th century, and the word once meant a generation (16th century), old age (14th–17th centuries) and youth (1636), senses since lost.^(DHLF 1992) As a stage of life it formed many phrases: ''bas âge'' (1538), ''bel âge'' “youth” (1669), ''âge tendre'' (1680), ''d'un certain âge'' (La Bruyère, late 17th century), ''entre deux âges'' (15th century) and ''troisième âge'' “old age” (1966).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ From Wace onwards it also meant a period of history: ''doré aage'' (about 1320) gave way to ''âge d'or'' in the later 17th century, and ''âge d'airain'' is from 1559.^(DHLF 1992) ''Âge de pierre'' and ''âge de bronze'' are in Larousse in 1866, and in 1882 Gabriel de Mortillet recommended ''âge de la pierre'' to avoid mythical overtones.^(DHLF 1992) ''Moyen âge'' for the period between Antiquity and the Renaissance may be a calque of English ''middle age''.^(DHLF 1992) In Quebec ''l'âge d'or'' is old age and retirement.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ English took ''age'' from French in the 14th century.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Edage'' “lifetime”, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1160 – The time a person has lived.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1180 – ''Aage'' “legal majority”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1320 – ''Doré aage'' “golden age”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 14th century – English ''age'' is borrowed.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 16th century – The spelling ''âge'' with a circumflex.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1538 – ''Bas âge''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1866 – ''Âge de pierre'' and ''âge de bronze'' in Larousse.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1966 – ''Troisième âge''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|age]], the time a person has lived: ''quel âge a-t-il ?'', ''il ne fait pas son âge''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A stage of life: ''bas âge'', ''âge mûr'', ''troisième âge''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Old age: ''un homme d'âge'', ''d'un certain âge''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(dated except in phrases)'' Life, its length: ''à la fleur de l'âge''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # An [[m|en|era]], a period of history or prehistory: ''l'âge d'or'', ''l'âge de pierre'', ''le Moyen Âge''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(Quebec)'' ''L'âge d'or'': old age, the years of [[m|en|retirement]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[âgé]]

+ * [[anti-âge]]

+ * [[âgisme]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[éternel]]

+ * [[la|aetās]]

+ * [[en|age]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate dialect word ''âge'', the beam of a plough, is a form of ''haie'' from [[frk|*hagja]], recorded in 1801.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}