instant French · revision 17421

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing, derivation|attested=1365 (noun); late 14th century (adjective)|origins=la stō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɛ̃s.tɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''instant''' (feminine instante, masculine plural instants, feminine plural instantes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun is the adjective “instant” used as a noun, formed in French; the adjective is [[bor|la|īnstāns|t=present; pressing, imminent]], the present participle of [[m|la|īnstō|t=to stand upon; to press hard; to be imminent]], from [[m|la|in-]] and [[m|la|stō|t=to stand]].^(TLF-Étym)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(FEW|4, 721a) Old Occitan had “instant” “near, next” from 1296.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The Medieval Latin of England used “instans” as a noun for “a very short moment” from about 1120.^(TLF-Étym)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The noun is recorded once in 1212, in an Anglo-Norman translation of Gregory's ''Dialogues'' (''en cel meïsme instant'', rendering Latin ''eodem momento''), and then from 1365; the adjective ''ystant'' “imminent” is in Froissart at the end of the 14th century.^(TLF-Étym)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The noun was rare from the 14th to the early 16th century (Oresme uses it in 1377) and became common in the Renaissance, when many adverbial phrases appeared: ''en un instant'' (1495), ''à l'instant'' (1540), ''à l'instant même'' (1559), ''à chaque instant'' (1580) and ''sur l'instant'' (1593, earlier ''sus l'instant'' in Rabelais, 1534).^(TLF-Étym)^(DHLF 1992) ''Tout à l'instant'' was dropped by the Académie in its eighth edition but is still used by Montherlant (1944).^(TLF-Étym)

+

+ The adjective meant “imminent” and, from 1550 (Du Bellay), “pressing”; all its uses are now archaic, legal or literary, as in ''une prière instante''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1212 – An isolated ''instant'' in an Anglo-Norman text.^(TLF-Étym)

+ * 1365 – ''L'instant'' “the moment”.^(TLF-Étym)

+ * 1377 – ''Instant'' in Oresme.^(TLF-Étym)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * Late 14th century – The adjective ''ystant'', in Froissart.^(TLFi)

+ * 1495 – ''En un instant''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1540 – ''À l'instant''.^(TLF-Étym)

+ * 1550 – The adjective “pressing”, in Du Bellay.^(TLFi)

+ * 1604 – ''Instantané''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A very short time, a [[m|en|moment]]: ''un instant'', ''attendez un instant''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # The present moment: ''profiter de l'instant''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''À l'instant'': just now; at once, ''en un instant'': in no time, ''pour l'instant'': for now.^(TLF-Étym)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(literary)'' [[m|en|pressing]], urgent: ''une demande instante''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[instantané]]

+ * [[instantanéité]]

+ * [[instamment]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[instance]]

+ * [[la|īnstāns]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}