douzaine

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French douzaine (“dozen”).

Noun

douzaine (plural douzaines)

1. (Guernsey) A parish council, consisting of a dean and twelve douzeniers.
   • 1841, Peter Jeremie, An Essay on the Laws of Real Property in Guernsey, Guernsey:

     If the eldest son will not accept the valuation set upon it by the town Douzaine, then it will be successively offered to the sons and daughters in rotation, according to seniority […]

   • 1862, David Thomas Ansted, The Channel Islands:

     The douzaines of Guernsey, since the year 1844, are represented in the states by deputies, who are delegates rather than representatives.

   • 1979, Raoul Lemprière, Portrait of the Channel Islands:

     There is a parish council called the Douzaine, which, as its name suggests, consists of twelve members.

   • 2012 April 26, The Guernsey Press:

     At a parish meeting held last night, dean of the douzaine Nick Dorey said that although some of the cars had been removed, it would be a lot easier with legal parking restrictions put in place.

Translations

Guernsey parish council

• Norman: douzôine f

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French douzaine, from Old French dozaine, from doze (“twelve”), from Vulgar Latin *dōdeci, from Latin duodecim.

Equivalent to douze +‎ -aine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /du.zɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

douzaine f (plural douzaines)

1. (a group of) twelve; dozen
2. about twelve

Related terms

• centaine, cinquantaine, dizaine, huitaine, quarantaine, quinzaine, soixantaine, trentaine, vingtaine

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: douzèn
• → Danish: dusin
• → English: douzaine
• → Norwegian: dusin
• → Russian: дю́жина (djúžina) (see there for further descendants)

See also

• grosse

Further reading

• “douzaine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.