minute French · revision 17420

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=3rd quarter of the 13th century (minuce); 1392 (minute)|origins=la minuō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mi.nyt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''minute''' ''f'' (plural minutes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-med|minūta]], the feminine of classical [[la|minūtus|t=small, minute]] used as a noun, the past participle of [[m|la|minuō|t=to make smaller, lessen]], itself derived from [[m|la|minus|t=less]] (see [[moins]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|6/2, 137a) The earliest form “minuce” comes rather from [[m|la|minūtia|t=smallness]], according to Littré.^(Littré 1873) The inherited doublet of “minūtus” is [[menu]].^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The “minute” of a legal deed, the original from which copies are made (1382), is the same Medieval Latin word in the sense “small writing”, as opposed to the “grosse”, the engrossed copy.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found as ''minuce'' in the third quarter of the 13th century, in a treatise on the calendar, meaning the smallest division of time; the form ''minute'' and the sense “sixtieth part of an hour” appear in Eustache Deschamps (1392).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Oresme (1377) has ''minut'' for a division of a degree of the celestial sphere, and, from 1636 ''minute'' is the sixtieth part of a degree of a circle.^(TLFi) By extension it meant a short moment (Calvin, 1541–1560), especially a moment marked by its feeling: ''une minute d'inquiétude'' (Madame de Staël, 1792), ''la minute fatale'' (Chateaubriand, 1826).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In the 19th century, after ''dans la minute'' “at once” (1779), adverbial phrases followed: ''d'une minute à l'autre'' (1803), ''de minute en minute'' (1813), ''à la minute'' (1815) and ''à une minute près'' (1835–1836), as well as the interjection ''minute !'' “wait!” (1808).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) After culinary phrases like ''côtelette à la minute'' (1755), it is placed after a noun for something done quickly: ''bouillon-minute'' (1922), ''talon-minute''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 3rd quarter of the 13th century – ''Minuce'', the smallest division of time.^(TLFi)

+ * 1377 – ''Minut'' of a degree, in Oresme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1382 – ''Minute'' of a deed, attested by the verb ''minuter''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1392 – The sixtieth part of an hour, in Eustache Deschamps.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – The sixtieth part of a degree, in Monet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1786 – ''Minuterie''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1808 – The interjection ''minute !''^(TLFi)

+ * 1922 – ''Bouillon-minute'', in Paul Morand.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|minute]], the sixtieth part of an hour.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A very short time, a moment: ''je reviens dans une minute'', ''à la minute'', ''d'une minute à l'autre''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # A sixtieth of a degree of [[m|en|arc]].^(TLFi)

+ # ''(law)'' The original of a deed kept by a notary.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # After a noun: done quickly, while you wait: ''talon-minute''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Interjection===

+ # ''Minute !'': wait a moment!^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[minuterie]]

+ * [[minuter]]

+ * [[minutier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[menu]]

+ * [[moins]]

+ * [[minutieux]]

+ * [[la|minūtus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}