vain French · revision 38601

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1120, Psautier de Cambridge (as vein)|origins=la vānus}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /vɛ̃/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''vain''' (feminine vaine, masculine plural vains, feminine plural vaines)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|vein]] (about 1120) beside [[m|fro|vain]] (about 1175); Anglo-Norman also [[m|xno|wain]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(AND)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|vain]], [[inh|la|vānus|t=empty; hollow, without substance; vain]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|14, 163a) Rey places the Latin word in an Indo-European family of words beginning with /w/ that express emptiness or lack, with [[sa|ऊन|tr=ūna|t=lacking]], [[grc|εὖνις|tr=eûnis|t=bereft]], [[goh|wuosti|t=empty, waste]] and [[ga|fás|t=empty]], and in Latin [[m|la|vacō|t=to be empty]] and [[m|la|vastus]].^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary gives the root as [[ine-pro|*h₁weh₂-|t=empty]].^(Wiktionary)

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+ The phrase [[en vain]] (about 1120) goes back, according to Bloch and Wartburg, to a popular Latin [[m|la-vul|*in vānum]] modelled on classical [[m|la|in cassum]], “to no purpose”;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) the TLFi notes the Latin phrase in Seneca and in Christian Latin, especially in the commandment of Exodus 20:7.^(TLFi)

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+ Cognate with [[it|vano]], [[oc|van]], [[ca|va]], [[es|vano]] and [[pt|vão]].^(Littré 1873)^(REW 1935)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Psautier de Cambridge'' (first half of the 12th century) ''veines choses'' renders the Latin ''inania'': things without substance, value or solid ground.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old French took over the whole range of the Latin word.^(DHLF 1992) Besides “illusory, unfounded” it meant “changeable, frivolous” (about 1175, Benoît de Sainte-Maure) and “proud without reason” (1180), whence ''veine gloire'' “vainglory” (1174–1178).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It also meant “weak, exhausted”, a sense kept until the 17th century and still found in some dialects, and of weather “close, sultry” (1419), in use until the late 18th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ In the 13th century it took up again the Latin sense “empty, bare”, which survives in ''vaine pâture'', first ''veinne pasture'' (1264), land where all the villagers may graze their animals.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The common sense “useless, ineffective” appears in the 14th century, and “futile, frivolous” in the 16th (1538).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The phrase ''en vain'' had many senses in Old French (“falsely”, “in the void”, “unpaid”) but kept only “to no avail”; with “needlessly” it is used in ''jurer le nom de Dieu en vain'' (1375).^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1120 – ''Vein'' in the ''Psautier de Cambridge''; the phrase ''en vain''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1174–1178 – ''Veine gloire'' “vainglory”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1175 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure: “changeable, frivolous”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1264 – ''Veinne pasture'', common grazing land.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 14th century – “Useless, ineffective”.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ * 1375 – ''Jurer le nom de Dieu en vain''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1419 – Of weather, “sultry”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1538 – Robert Estienne: “futile”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(literary)'' Without real value or meaning, [[m|en|hollow]], ''ce n'est pas un vain mot'', it is meant seriously.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # Without foundation, [[m|en|illusory]]: ''une crainte vaine''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # [[m|en|useless|alt=Useless]], ineffective, [[m|en|fruitless]]: ''des efforts vains'', ''il est vain de'' + infinitive, it is pointless to.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(literary)'' Of a person: conceited, proud without cause.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(old)'' Empty, bare, ''(law)'' ''vaine pâture'', the right to graze animals on unenclosed land after harvest.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vainement]]

+ * [[en vain]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vanité]]

+ * [[vaniteux]]

+ * [[vaquer]]

+ * [[vaste]]

+ * [[la|vānus]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''En vain'', “in vain, to no purpose”, is an adverbial phrase with its own article in the TLFi; in the old sense “needlessly” it lives on in the commandment ''Dieu en vain tu ne jureras''.^(TLFi)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}