peine French · revision 17434

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=2nd half of the 10th century, Vie de saint Léger|origins=grc ποινή}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɛn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''peine''' ''f'' (plural peines)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Poenas'' and ''penas'' in the plural (10th century), then [[m|fro|peine]] (about 1050); Old French also ''paine'', ''poine''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|peine]], [[inh|la|poena|t=penalty, punishment; pain]], [[bor|grc|ποινή|tr=poinḗ|t=blood money, fine; punishment]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|9, 114a)^(Wiktionary) The Greek word, a legal term for the compensation paid for an offence or a killing, is compared with Avestan “kaēnā” “vengeance” and [[ru|цена|tr=cena|t=price]], but no clear Indo-European family can be set up.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Like most early Latin loans from Greek, “poena” was concrete, first the punishment of a slave; under the Empire it took the wider sense “sorrow, pain”, which passed into the Romance languages.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|pena]] and [[es|pena]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Petit Robert also compares [[de|Pein]] and [[nl|pijn]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the second half of the 10th century in the ''Vie de saint Léger'' and in the ''Passion'' of Clermont, as the plural ''poenas'', ''penas'', “torments, sufferings inflicted on someone”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ About 1050 it meant the trouble one takes for an end, whence ''se mettre en peine de'' (about 1165), ''être en peine de'' and ''perdre sa peine'' (1176–1181).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From the early 12th century ''peines'' named the pains of hell, and, from 1275 a penalty fixed by law, Bloch and Wartburg note that the legal sense was taken again from Latin.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Moral pain, “sorrow”, is found in the mid-12th century (''Jeu d'Adam''), and sorrow in love about 1165.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The weakened senses “work, effort, difficulty” spread early: ''homme de peine'' “labourer” (1690), ''prendre la peine de'' (1461–1469, ''Pathelin''), ''valoir la peine'' (1587) and ''ce n'est pas la peine'' (Pascal, 1656).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The adverbial phrase ''à peine'' “hardly” has counterparts in [[it|appena]] and [[es|apenas]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 2nd half of the 10th century – ''Poenas'' in the ''Vie de saint Léger''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Peine'' “trouble taken”, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * Mid-12th century – Moral pain, in the ''Jeu d'Adam''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1275 – A legal penalty.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1461–1469 – ''Prendre la peine de'' in ''Pathelin''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1587 – ''Valoir la peine''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1656 – ''Ce n'est pas la peine'' in Pascal.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – ''Homme de peine''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|punishment]], [[m|en|penalty]]: ''peine de mort'', ''sous peine d'amende''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Sorrow, distress: ''avoir de la peine'', ''faire de la peine à quelqu'un''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Effort, [[m|en|trouble]]: ''se donner de la peine'', ''valoir la peine'', ''ce n'est pas la peine''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # Difficulty: ''avoir de la peine à'', ''sans peine''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''À peine'': hardly, barely; only just.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[peiner]]

+ * [[penaud]]

+ * [[pénible]]

+ * [[peinard]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pénal]]

+ * [[punir]]

+ * [[la|poena]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}