quiet1 (1269)

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The form quiete is a cross reference to the following entry:

quiet1 (1269)

[ gdw]

[ FEW: 2/ii,1475a quietus; Gdf: 6,513c quiete; GdfC: ; TL: 8,93 quïet; DEAF:  quïet; DMF:  quiet; TLF:  quiet; OED:  quiet a. and adv.; MED:  quiete a.; DMLBS: 2630b quietus ]
quiete; 
pl. quietis,  quietz  

The Classical Latin etymon quietus seems to have produced both quiet1 and, through a process of monophthongization, quite1. This duplication seems to have taken place before the Anglo-Norman period, with eleventh-century Latin already using quitus specifically for the sense ‘free, exempt’ alongside quietus (which has the same meaning but also retains the original sense ‘at rest, peaceful’ – derived from its origin as past participle of the verb quiescere, ‘to rest’).

The DMF treats quiet and quite as two entirely separate entries, without any overlap in sense (‘calme’ for the former, ‘Délié d'une obligation’ (etc.) for the latter), and in doing so reflects the approaches found in Gdf and TL. Modern French and English (cf. TLF and OED) confirm and validate this separation. However, as particularly the DMLBS but also the MED and the historical data of the OED show, in medieval times, the original (diphthongised) quiet form retained its wider semantic field. Whereas in AND1 the two articles were separated on the basis of sense (resulting, awkwardly, in quiet also being listed as a variant spelling of quite1), AND2 attempts to give a better indication of the medieval perception of the word(s), and returns all the diphthongised variants back under quiet1, thereby restoring the wider semantic field of this word. This same formal/etymological separation is maintained for the related entries in the dictionary.

It must be noted, however, that in Anglo-Norman this diphthongized form generally appears only in attestations from the early fourteenth-century onwards.

a.

1lawquiet, peaceful
( 1461 )  pur la conversacion e garde del ville de Shrewesbery et de bone paisable et quiete rule er governaile deinz la dite ville  ii 388
2lawfinan.exempt, immune (from a customary payment)
( 1269 )  li queus nostre fuiz serra tut quietes, e delivrés de cest custage  i 481
( 1372 )  que les dictes burgeois [...] puissent vendre et achater fraunchement toute manere de vitaille et merchaundises qiconques [...] quietez de toute manere de toln, assizes, custumez, ou taillage  iii 967
( 1402 )  (the king) eux promist q'ils serroient quietez et dischargez de toutz maners des paiementz et custumez si non par cez guerrez d'outre le mier  vii 124
lawexempt, discharged (from a duty or responsibility)
( 1373 )  Et voet nostre dit seignur le Roi que toutes maners des gentz, de quele condicion q'ils soient, qui voillent overyr en les dites mynes, soient frankes et quietes, solonc lour franchises, devers toutes gentz, pur le temps q'ils voillent en les dites mynes overyr  iii 986
3lawfinan.quit, cleared, discharged (from a debt)
( 1376 )  final acont ad ent renduz, et quietz est  218
quiet claim
quietclaim
quiet clamance
quietclamance
quiet clamer
quietclamer
aver quiet
1to have wholly, possess completely
( c.1300 )  il vendra avant et prouvera par pel et par quier par. xij. liaus hommes qe les avers sont s[o]ens, e il les aura quietis  i 59
coi#1  quieser  quietance  quiete#1  quieté  quietement  quieter  quietus#1  quite#1 
This is an AND2 Phase 4 (N-O/U-P-Q) entry. © 2013-17 The Anglo-Norman Dictionary. All rights reserved. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom.
quiete