perte French · revision 38659

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=la perdō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pɛʁt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''perte''' ''f'' (plural pertes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*perdita]], the feminine past participle of [[la|perdō|t=to lose; to destroy, ruin]] used as a noun.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|8, 225b) The participle itself, Latin [[m|la|perditus|t=lost, ruined]], had gone out of use before the first French texts.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The verb is the source of [[perdre]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|perdita]], [[ca|perda]], [[es|pérdida]] and [[pt|perda]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'', for the state of being deprived of a dear person's presence and affection.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the same text it also meant the death of the soul, damnation.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Most of the abstract senses were fixed before the end of the 12th century.^(DHLF 1992) In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) it meant ruin and the destruction of a person, a sense that now survives mainly in literary use and in phrases such as ''courir à sa perte'';^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) by metonymy ''les pertes'' came to mean the soldiers killed or wounded in a battle (1807).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The loss of something one owned is recorded about 1165 and in Chrétien de Troyes (1176–1181), and the loss of money in the farce ''Pathelin'' (1465).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Robert Estienne (1549) speaks of losing a lawsuit, and Belleau (1572) of being deprived of a faculty, ''jusqu'à perte d'haleine''.^(TLFi) ''À perte de vue'' “as far as the eye can see” is recorded by Nicot (1606), and Cotgrave (1611) has it figuratively for talking on endlessly and to no purpose.^(TLFi) Madame de Sévigné writes of a ''perte de sang'' in 1680.^(TLFi) Later technical uses include a place where a river disappears underground (1768), the energy lost in transmission (1821) and ''perte de vitesse'' (1892).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – The loss of a dear person, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – “Ruin, destruction”, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1176–1181 – The loss of something owned, in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1465 – A loss of money, in ''Pathelin''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1572 – ''Jusqu'à perte d'haleine'', in Belleau.^(TLFi)

+ * 1606 – ''À perte de vue'', in Nicot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1680 – ''Une perte de sang'', in Madame de Sévigné.^(TLFi)

+ * 1807 – ''Les pertes'', the dead and wounded of a battle.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1892 – ''Perte de vitesse''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|loss]] of a person, through death or separation: ''la perte de son père''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(in the plural)'' Military [[m|en|casualties]], the dead and wounded.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The loss of something one owned or enjoyed; [[m|en|damage]], harm.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A loss of money: ''vendre à perte'', to sell below cost, ''perte sèche'', a dead loss, ''passer par profits et pertes'', to write off.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # The loss of a faculty: ''perte de connaissance'', ''perte de mémoire''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # The fact of mislaying something: ''la perte d'un parapluie''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # [[m|en|waste]]: ''une perte de temps'', ''en pure perte'', to no purpose.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # The fact of losing a contest: ''la perte d'une bataille''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(literary)'' [[m|en|ruin]], downfall: ''courir à sa perte''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''À perte de vue'': as far as the eye can see, ''(figurative)'' endlessly.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(technical)'' ''Perte de vitesse'', a loss of speed, a [[m|en|stall]], ''être en perte de vitesse'', to be declining.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[perdre]]

+ * [[éperdu]]

+ * [[la|perdō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}