enceinte French · revision 38553

+ {{homograph|1|enclosure}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1284, Jean de Meun|origins=la cingō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɑ̃.sɛ̃t/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''enceinte''' ''f'' (plural enceintes)^(Wiktionary)

+ The older form was Old French [[m|fro|aceinte]] (12th century).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The enclosure is the feminine past participle of [[enceindre]] used as a noun.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) It remade the older [[fro|aceinte]], the participle of [[m|fro|aceindre]], by a change of prefix;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the Old French verb was a compound of [[ceindre]] with the prefix [[a-]], remade after [[la|incingō|t=to surround]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) from [[m|la|in-]] and [[m|la|cingō|t=to gird, encircle]].^(Wiktionary) Meyer-Lübke lists it among the derivatives of the Latin verb, beside [[ca|ensink]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1284, in Jean de Meun's ''Establissemens de Chevalerie'' (his translation of Vegetius), for what surrounds a space and closes it off.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By metonymy the word came to mean the enclosed space itself, recorded by Cotgrave in 1611, and in particular a line of fortifications (1704).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It was used for a domain in the 17th century and for a large closed hall from 1835.^(DHLF 1992) In hunting Ronsard already used ''faire son enceinte'' for surrounding the game.^(Littré 1873) About 1960 ''enceinte acoustique'', a loudspeaker cabinet, appeared, competing with the anglicism ''baffle''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – The older form ''aceinte''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1284 – ''Enceinte'' in Jean de Meun, for what encloses a space.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “enclosed space”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1704 – A line of fortifications.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1835 – A large closed hall.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1961 – ''Enceinte acoustique'' is recorded.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A wall, rampart or other barrier that surrounds a space and guards access to it: ''mur d'enceinte''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # The space so enclosed; the inside of a hall or building: ''l'enceinte du tribunal''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|loudspeaker]] cabinet (''enceinte acoustique'').^(Le Robert)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|2|pregnant}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1160, Benoît de Sainte-Maure|origins=la-lat incīncta}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɑ̃.sɛ̃t/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''enceinte''' (adjective, feminine only; plural enceintes)^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The adjective “pregnant” is [[inh|la-lat|incīncta|t=girdled]],^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) recorded in the 7th century by Isidore of Seville.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF take it to be the feminine past participle of [[la|incingō|t=to gird]], the pregnant woman feeling hampered as if by bonds;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) Littré, following Isidore, read the prefix as privative, “without a girdle”.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|incinta]], [[pro|encencha]] and [[es|encinta]].^(DHLF 1992)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The GLLF finds it about 1160 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure for a woman with child, and the Grand Robert dates it about 1165;^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) the Anglo-Norman Dictionary has it from the first third of the 12th century.^(AND)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old French also used a masculine form, as in ''ventre enceint'', still found now and then in the 19th and 20th centuries.^(DHLF 1992) The adjective became the usual word as ''grosse'' came to be felt as inelegant.^(DHLF 1992) Littré notes the form ''enceintée'' in the Laws of William,^(Littré 1873) and Anglo-Norman texts distinguish a woman heavily pregnant from one whose pregnancy does not yet show.^(AND)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 7th century – Late Latin ''incincta'' in Isidore of Seville.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1160 – ''Enceinte'' in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * c. 1138 – The derived verb ''enceinter'', first “to become pregnant”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|pregnant]]: ''être enceinte de trois mois'', ''être enceinte de quelqu'un''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Enceinte jusqu'aux yeux'': very near the end of her pregnancy.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[enceinter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[enceindre]]

+ * [[ceindre]]

+ * [[ceinture]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}