affirmer French · revision 17644

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1276|origins=la fīrmus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.fiʁ.me/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''affirmer'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|afermer]], [[m|fro|affermer]] (about 1100), used until the 16th century;^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989) ''affirmer'' from the 13th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a remodelling (13th century) of Old French [[m|fro|afermer]], both forms borrowed from [[la|affirmō|t=to strengthen; to affirm]], formed on [[m|la|fīrmus|t=firm]], the source of [[ferme]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|24, 251b) Littré explains that [[m|fro|affermer]], the form following French sound habits, was used throughout the old language, and that the modern form won in the 17th century, probably to distinguish it from the verb meaning “to lease”.^(Littré 1873) Cognate with [[pro|affermar]], [[es|afirmar]] and [[it|affermare]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old French ''afermer'' first meant to make firm, consolidate (1080), later replaced by [[affermir]], and, from 1119 to assert that something is true; the form ''affirmer'' is recorded about 1230, and in 1276 in a criminal register of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The forms ''afirmer'', ''affirmer'' and ''afermer'', ''affermer'' coexisted in the abstract sense “to state with certainty” until the 16th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) The concrete sense “to make firm” survives only as a literary archaism.^(TLFi) The pronominal ''s'affirmer'', to show itself, is recorded in the mid-19th century (Proudhon), and is also used for a feeling growing stronger and for a person asserting his personality.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Related words are [[affirmatif]] (13th century) and [[affirmation]] (1313).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1080 – ''Afermer'' “to consolidate”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1119 – “To assert as true”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1230 – The form ''affirmer''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1313 – ''Affirmation''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 17th century – ''Affirmer'' replaces ''affermer''.^(Littré 1873)

+ * Mid-19th century – ''S'affirmer'', in Proudhon.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|assert]], state as true: ''j'affirme qu'il ment'', ''je l'affirme sur l'honneur''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To show clearly, make manifest: ''affirmer sa personnalité, son indépendance''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''S'affirmer'': to assert oneself; to become stronger or more evident.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(literary, archaic)'' To make firm, consolidate.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[affermir]]

+ * [[ferme]]

+ * [[confirmer]]

+ * [[la|affirmō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}