these two words should not be confused

Rich and subtle, our French language can sometimes be confusing. And this of course, when the words are simply similar. Among those often confused, we find “first fruits” et “premises”. How to distinguish these homophones? The editorial team looks back at their correct use.

The term “first fruit”often used in the plural, designates the first signs of an event to come. It was first said literally of the first fruits, the first products of the earth or of livestock. And, figuratively, of the first productions of the mind, the first movements of the heart. Let us thus give the floor to Honoré de Balzac: “In young people, love is the most beautiful of feelings, it makes life blossom in the soul, it blossoms by its solar power the most beautiful inspirations and their great thoughts: the first fruits in all things have a delicious flavor”he wrote in History of the thirteen.

More broadly, the “first fruits” can be applied to all warning signs whatever they may be. In the meteorological field, we thus speak a lot about “first fruits of winter” as soon as the first snow falls in the mountains, “first fruits of autumn” with the temperatures dropping… All this indicates that the season is imminent, but is not yet here.

The premise of a syllogism

What do the “premise” and the “first fruit” ? The two terms are not so far apart, because in both cases they refer to a beginning. But with two «s»we are not talking about the beginnings of a historical or meteorological event, because “premise” hardly goes beyond the realm of logic. The premise is a starting point that serves as the basis for a demonstration. Etymologically, to argue means “to make shine”like money. We go from the best known to the least known, we connect a still doubtful knowledge to a certain knowledge, by a relationship which transfers to the second the certainty of the first.

This first certainty is therefore that of the premises, arranged with a view to the conclusion. They are what “best known” on which one relies. These are first principles that are indemonstrable or self-evident. They serve as the basis for the syllogism, which in logic allows certain conclusions. The classic example given by philosophy is the following: “All men are mortal/ Socrates is a man/ Socrates is mortal.”

From the two premises stated at the beginning, the conclusion is self-evident. Why? Because of the principle of the syllogism which can be stated in a Latin formula: “Said about everything, about nothing”. In other words, this means that when a term is universally attributed to a subject, it must be attributed to everything that is included in the extension of this subject. Here, «Socrates» is included in the genre «homme»and is therefore awarded the “mortality”.