printemps French · revision 17572

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 1200|origins=la prīmus, la tempus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pʁɛ̃.tɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

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

+ Old French ''prins tans'' (12th century), ''printans'' (about 1200), ''printens'' (about 1265, Brunetto Latini); ''printemps'' from the late 13th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the fusion of Old French [[m|fro|prins tans]], a compound of the old adjective [[m|fro|prin|t=first]] (see [[prime]]) and [[temps]] “time, season”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It may go back to [[la|prīmum tempus|t=the first season, the good season]], recorded as early as the age of Augustus.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) It drove out the older [[m|fro|primever]], which disappeared in this sense in the 16th century and survives as [[primevère]] “primrose”, and Latin [[m|la|vēr|t=spring]].^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary) Spanish and Italian kept the counterpart of that older word, [[es|primavera]] and [[it|primavera]].^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ ''Printans'' is found about 1200 in the ''Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne'', for the season.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Brunetto Latini's ''Trésor'' already has the proverb that one swallow does not show that ''printens'' has come.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Eustache Deschamps still wrote ''ou printemps d'esté'', “in the first part of summer”, keeping the sense “first time”.^(Littré 1873) The metaphor “the springtime of life, youth” is in Marot in 1539.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Boileau in 1666 uses it for the weather and the vegetation of the season.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In literary language it has meant “a year of a person's age”, after a number (1770, Delille), sometimes ironically (''quatre-vingts printemps'').^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The astronomical spring, from the equinox to the solstice, is in Laplace (1796).^(GLLF 1989) It later took the figurative sense of a period of hope for freedom and progress.^(DHLF 1992) ''Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps'' is the French form of the old proverb.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – ''Prins tans''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1200 – ''Printans'' in the ''Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne''.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 13th century – The spelling ''printemps''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 16th century – ''Primever'' “spring” disappears.^(TLFi)

+ * 1539 – “Youth”, in Marot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1666 – The weather of the season, in Boileau.^(TLFi)

+ * 1770 – “A year of age”, in Delille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1796 – The astronomical spring, in Laplace.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|spring|alt=Spring]], the first of the four seasons, from 21 March to 21 June in the northern hemisphere: ''équinoxe de printemps''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # The weather and vegetation of that season.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(literary)'' A year of a person's age, especially a young one: ''quatre-vingts printemps'', said ironically.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(literary)'' The [[m|en|springtime]] of life, youth.^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A period of hopes of freedom and progress.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[printanier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[temps]]

+ * [[prime]]

+ * [[primevère]]

+ * [[la|tempus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}