naissance French · revision 17521

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=early 12th century, Benedeit, Voyage de saint Brendan|origins=la nāscor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /nɛ.sɑ̃s/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ne.sɑ̃s/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''naissance''' ''f'' (plural naissances)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|naître|-ance]], formed after [[la|nāscentia|t=birth]], from [[m|la|nāscor|t=to be born]].^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Larousse)^(FEW|7, 18a) Compare [[oc|naissença]], [[ca|naixença]] and [[it|nascenza]].^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873) Old French also used [[nation]] in the sense of birth.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Benedeit's ''Voyage de saint Brendan'' (early 12th century) uses it for a person's origin by blood, their descent; the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' manuscript of the same period has it for coming into the world.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Prendre naissance'' is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165).^(TLFi) About 1200 the ''Dialogues'' of Gregory translate Latin ''ante solis ortum'' as ''devant la naissence del soloilh'', the moment when something begins, and the word came to mean beginning or origin in general.^(TLFi) Corneille (1651) uses it for noble birth, as in ''avoir de la naissance'' (Retz) and ''un homme sans naissance'' (Académie, 1694).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) Pascal speaks of the ''seconde naissance'' of baptism.^(TLFi)

+

+ Delorme (1561) uses it in architecture for the point where a beam or vault starts, and Buffon for the point where a part of the body starts, as in ''la naissance de la gorge''.^(TLFi)^(BHVF) The Civil Code of 1804 established the ''acte de naissance'';^(GLLF 1989) ''contrôle des naissances'' is from the 20th century.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 12th century – “Descent, origin” and “birth”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1165 – ''Prendre naissance''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – “Beginning, rise”, of the sun.^(TLFi)

+ * 1561 – ''La naissance des poutres'', in Delorme.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1651 – “Noble birth”, in Corneille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1804 – ''Acte de naissance'' in the Civil Code.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|birth|alt=Birth]]: the beginning of life outside the mother's body: ''date et lieu de naissance'', ''donner naissance à'', to give birth to.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''De naissance'': from birth, [[m|en|congenital]]: ''aveugle de naissance''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # A birth as an event in statistics: ''contrôle des naissances''.^(Le Robert)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(dated)'' Descent, origin; noble birth: ''un homme d'une naissance obscure''.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # The beginning, origin of something: ''prendre naissance''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The point where something begins: ''la naissance des poutres'', ''la naissance de la gorge''.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[renaissance]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[naître]]

+ * [[natalité]]

+ * [[la|nāscentia]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}