pays French · revision 17386

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Vie de saint Léger (païs)|origins=la pāgus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɛ.i/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /pe.i/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /pɛ.ji/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /pe.ji/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pays''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|païs]] (10th century); the form ''pays'' is from about 1360 (Froissart), but ''païs'' was written until the end of the 17th century.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|païs]], [[inh|la-med|pāgēnsis|t=inhabitant of a district]], a word of Gregory of Tours, derived from [[la|pāgus|t=village, canton, district]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|7, 469a)^(Wiktionary) The Latin adjective qualified a word for territory (“ager pagensis”), whence the sense of the land itself.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) In the senses “fellow countryman” and “countryman”, “pāgēnsis” displaced the other derivative of “pāgus”, “pāgānus”, once that word came to mean “pagan” (see [[païen]]).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|paese]] and [[oc|país]]; [[ca|país]], [[es|país]] and [[pt|país]] are borrowed from French.^(REW 1935)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the second half of the 10th century in the ''Vie de saint Léger'' (''tuit li omne de ciel païs'' “all the men of that country”), meaning an inhabited region.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the ''Chanson de Roland'' it already names whole countries, Spain, Barbary and France, and one's native land.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the 14th century it named the provinces of France, with ''pays d'états'', and later ''la coustume du pays'' (1315).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) ''Du pays'' “local” is from 1661–1671 (''vin de pays''), ''la maladie du pays'' “homesickness” from 1718, later ''le mal du pays'', ''voir du pays'' “to travel” is from 1694.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Used of a person, ''pays'' “fellow countryman” is recorded in 1640 (Oudin), the feminine ''payse'' in 1765, Furetière described it in 1690 as a greeting among beggars of the same region.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(BHVF)^(Petit Robert 2007) Derivatives include [[paysan]] (12th century, ''paisenc''), [[paysage]] (1549) and [[dépayser]] (1220).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 10th century – ''Païs'' in the ''Vie de saint Léger''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – Spain and France named ''païs'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 12th century – ''Paisenc'', later ''paysan''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1220 – ''Dépayser''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1360 – The spelling ''pays'', in Froissart.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1549 – ''Paysage''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1640 – ''Pays'' “fellow countryman”, in Oudin.^(BHVF)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1718 – ''La maladie du pays''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|country]], nation, state: ''les pays d'Europe'', ''pays en voie de développement''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A region, a district: ''le pays basque'', ''vin de pays''.^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+ # One's native land, [[m|en|homeland]]: ''le mal du pays''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A small town or village, especially one's own: ''les gens du pays''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ # ''Voir du pays'': to travel.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar, dated)'' A fellow countryman; feminine ''payse''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dépayser]]

+ * [[paysage]]

+ * [[paysan]]

+ * [[arrière-pays]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[payse]]

+ * [[païen]]

+ * [[la|pāgus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Nul n'est prophète en son pays'' is the French form of “a prophet is not without honour, save in his own country”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}