écouter

Pronunciation

• IPA: /e.ku.te/^[1]

Forms

écouter^[1] Old French eskolter (late 9th century), escolter (10th century), escouter (12th century); écouter from the 17th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French escouter, inherited from Late Latin ascultō, a popular form of Latin auscultō (“to listen attentively; to obey”), with the common prefix “es-” substituted for “as-”.^{[5][2][6][7][1]} The grammarian Caper (2nd century) warned against pronouncing it “ascultare”, which shows the popular form.^[5][8] The Latin verb belongs to the family of auris (“ear”).^[2] Its learned doublet is ausculter.^[1][4]

The older type “acouter” survives in northern and north-eastern dialects.^[6][8] Cognate with Italian ascoltare, Catalan escoltar, Spanish escuchar and Portuguese escutar.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

At the end of the 9th century the Séquence de sainte Eulalie says of the saint: Elle no'nt eskoltet les mals conselliers “she did not listen to the evil counsellors”, that is, did not heed them.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From the start it meant both “to listen to” and “to give a favourable hearing to, heed”.^[5][2] At the end of the 12th century it also meant “to give way to a feeling”, as in n'écouter que son courage, Malherbe has sans jamais écouter ni pitié ni clémence (1628).^[2][5]

S'écouter parler is in Du Bellay (1558), and in the 17th century s'écouter came to mean “to pay too much attention to one's health”.^[5][2] Écouter aux portes dates from 1727.^[5] In Canada écouter is used for watching a film or television.^[1] The noun écoute dates from the 12th century.^[6]

Timeline

• Late 9th century – Eskoltet in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie.^[5]
• c. 1100 – Messe et matines a li reis esculté in the Chanson de Roland.^[8]
• 12th century – The form escouter.^[2]
• 1389 – Escoutant, a listener.^[5]
• 1558 – S'escouter parler in Du Bellay.^[5]
• 1628 – “To be guided by a feeling”, in Malherbe.^[5]
• 1727 – Écouter aux portes.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To listen to: écouter la radio, écouter de la musique.^[9][1]
2. (absolute) To listen: savoir écouter, écoutez !^[9][8]
3. To pay attention to, take account of: écouter ses conseils.^[3]
4. To heed, obey; to give way to: n'écouter que son courage.^[2][5]
5. S'écouter: to coddle oneself, s'écouter parler, to love the sound of one's own voice.^[5][2]
6. (Canada) To watch (a film, television).^[1]

Word family

• écoute
• écoute-s'il-pleut
• écouteur

Related words

• ausculter
• oreille
• entendre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 1057a
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert