It's time to leave, so we greet each other with a kiss.
Some will opt for a simple "goodbye", while others will want to appear connected by launching a "bye" or its Italian register, "ciao" (pronounced "tchao").
More rarely, you'll hear someone give you a tearful "goodbye" unless they're just joking.
The language is rich in words to accompany the polite formulas that accompany our daily greetings.
Did we say these same formulas in the past?
What is the true meaning of these phrases?
Where do they come from?
The lively book
La Politesse
by Jean Pruvost gives answers to these questions, and the answers are sometimes surprising…
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bye
The word “bye,” shortened from “goodbye,” originated in a religious phrase “God be with ye [you]” from the late 14th century, reports Jean Pruvost.
Around 1570, the expression was reduced to the form of “godbwye”, then taking the form of “good bye” under the influence of “good day”.
The English then gradually dropped the "good" to keep only the "bye" which is enough to express the idea of goodbye, no longer keeping any trace of the religious expression of its origins... In France, the word has taken its place in our vocabulary since the 1930s.
Goodbye
As with "goodbye", the word "farewell" has its origins in a religious expression.
We find a trace of the oldest definition of the word in the first edition of the dictionary of the French Academy in 1694, as recalled by Jean Pruvost.
It is therefore following the article
God
that the word
Adieu appeared.
in the dictionary defines as a "term of civility and friendship which is used when taking leave of one another".
In reality, the word dates from the end of the 12th century, we read in the Robert and the Treasury of the French language.
We find it in the form “adeu” as a polite formula to say that we are “taking leave”.
The word is the elliptical form of the Old French expression "a Dieu vos comant", which means "I recommend you to God", from the Latin ad Deum (to God), thus taking the contraction of " Goodbye".
Until the 19th century, the term "farewell" was commonly used as a standard, neutral form of politeness.
As the Trésor de la langue française reminds us, “it was easy to say goodbye, see you later”.
But with the appearance of other words in greetings, farewell gave way to its synonyms "hello, good evening, good night, goodbye" and took another turn, that of "the final separation in a somewhat little solemn or of intense affectivity”: “Farewell!
I believe that in this life, I will never see you again” (Musset).
But if they say "farewell" to you in Switzerland, don't believe that they never want to see you again: the word does not have the same meaning as in France.
As strange as it may seem, our Swiss neighbors use it to say “hello”.
Goodbye
Contrary to what one might think, the word "goodbye" is recent.
"Goodbye", wrote Littré at the origin of the monument dictionary of the French language, "is a farewell formula expressing the hope that we will see each other again soon".
As Jean Pruvost points out, “goodbye” and “goodbye”, “at first associated in the same syntagm, will actually take some time to constitute two independent entities”.
In reality, "goodbye" is a phrase that seems to be the contraction of "Goodbye until goodbye", according to etymologists, as can be seen in
Mélite or False Letters
(1633) by Corneille with Philandre who addresses Cloris “Farewell, until goodbye.
I am dying of displeasure” (line 1145).
It is only discovered in its reduced form at the end of the 18th century in a comedy by Collin d'Harleville performed in Paris in 1792,
Le Vieux Bachelor
.
“Goodbye?” asks Charle to Laure who is leaving, “goodbye.”
(Scene X, Act II).
The word “goodbye” also echoes a once common phrase: “Looking forward to seeing you again”.
Ciao
Nowadays, we often use the term “ciao” in a spontaneous and joyful way, and yet its etymological origin is not the happiest.
Imported to France in the 1950s, the cheerful “ciao” comes from northern Italy, more precisely from Veneto, derived from “schiao” itself from “schiavo” which means… slave.
The word has become a form of greeting to literally say "(I am) your servant".
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In fact, as Jean Pruvost tells it, the Italians of the North got into the habit of using the word “schiavo” as a smiling exclamation of departure.
In French, it can be assimilated to the equivalent of the kind and long courteous remark which was declined as follows: "I am your very humble servant".
The next time you greet someone with "ciao", remember that you are saying "I am your (humble) servant".
So, ciao!