écrivain

Forms

écrivain m (plural écrivains, feminine écrivaine)^[1] Old French escrivein, escrivain; the spelling écrivain is recorded by Monet in 1636.^[2][3] The feminine escripvaine is found in the 14th century and écrivaine in 1639.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French escrivain, inherited from Vulgar Latin *scrībānem, an accusative remade from Latin scrība (“clerk, scribe”), which comes from scrībō (“to write”), the source of écrire.^{[2][4][5][6][7]} Popular Latin changed the declension of the classical noun after the model of the many nouns such as Cicerō, whose stem ends in ⟨-ōn-⟩.^[2][5][3] Bloch and Wartburg compare sacristain, nonnain and putain, formed the same way.^[5] scribe is a learned doublet.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan escrivan, Catalan escrivà, Spanish escribano, Portuguese escrivão and Italian scrivano.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Cambridge Psalter (first half of the 12th century) as escrivein, for a copyist or scribe: chalemeals d'escrivang “the pen of a scribe”.^[2][8] Before 1255 Rutebeuf uses it for one who writes down their own work, and about 1269–1278 Jean de Meun for one who composes books.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “scribe, copyist”, is now archaic except in écrivain public, a person who writes letters for those who cannot (1835), and in some historical titles: the purser on a royal ship (1337, l'écrivain d'un vaisseau, 1628) and the écrivain apostolique of the papal chancery (1838).^[4][3] Bloch and Wartburg date the sense “author of books” once about 1300 and then from the 16th century.^[5] Only in the 18th century did the word come to mean an author distinguished by style, as in Féraud (1787).^[4][3]

For a long time the word had no feminine in use, hence une femme écrivain;^[4][9] écrivaine, recorded since the 14th century, was taken up again from the 19th century, mostly as a joke, and is current in Quebec.^[4][9] In entomology écrivain (1863) is a beetle that eats vine leaves, cutting shapes in them that look like written letters.^[4] The pejorative verbs écrivailler (1611) and écrivasser (about 1800) were formed from it, with écrivailleur (1580, Montaigne), écrivaillon (1885, Maupassant) and écrivassier (1745).^[4]

Timeline

• First half of the 12th century – Escrivein “scribe” in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2]
• Before 1255 – Rutebeuf uses it for one who writes out their own work.^[2]
• c. 1269–1278 – Jean de Meun uses it for an author of books.^[2]
• 1337 – The purser on a ship.^[4][3]
• 1580 – Écrivailleur, in Montaigne.^[4]
• 1636 – The spelling écrivain, in Monet.^[3]
• 1787 – Féraud records it for an author distinguished by style.^[3][4]
• 1835 – Écrivain public.^[4]
• 1863 – The name of a vine pest.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A writer, a person who writes literary works; an author: un écrivain célèbre, une femme écrivain.^[9][1]
2. Écrivain public: a public letter-writer, who writes letters and forms for those who cannot.^[9][4]
3. (archaic) A scribe, clerk or copyist.^[9][8]
4. (historical) Écrivain de navire: the clerk keeping the accounts on a ship.^[9][8]
5. Écrivain apostolique: a secretary in the papal chancery.^[9][8]

Word family

• écrivaine
• écrivailler
• écrivailleur
• écrivaillon
• écrivasser
• écrivassier

Related words

• écrire
• scribe
• Latin scrība

Usage notes

The feminine écrivaine is little used in France, where une femme écrivain or elle est écrivain are found, but it is current in Quebec.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 330a
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert