éditer

Forms

éditer^[1]

Etymology

It was formed at the end of the 18th century from Latin ēditus, the past participle of ēdō (“to put forth, bring out, produce”), first in the past participle.^[2][3][4] The TLFi describes it as built on the stem of the supine ēditum, after éditeur and édition, which are both older.^[5][6] An Old French adjective edit (“published”) of the same origin is found about 1310.^[5][2][3]

The Latin verb is formed with ex- and is probably related to dō (“to give”).^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the participle in Restif de la Bretonne's Le Paysan et la Paysanne pervertis (1784): La Bible de mon père éditée par des catholiques “my father's Bible published by Catholics”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant to publish and put into circulation a reproduced text, in line with the meaning of édition and éditeur.^[2][7] At the end of the 19th century it was also used, in scholarly language, of preparing and establishing a text for publication, recorded by the Dictionnaire général (1890); this is close to English edit, while the French publishing sense matches English publish.^[2][7]

After 1960 it entered computing, with the sense of English to edit: to prepare data for processing, or to show it on a screen.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1310 – The Old French adjective edit “published” appears in the Roman de Fauvel.^[5]
• 1784 – Restif de la Bretonne uses the participle éditée.^[5][3]
• 1845 – Rééditer is first recorded.^[6]
• 1890 – The Dictionnaire général records the sense “to establish a text”.^[7]
• after 1960 – It takes on a computing sense from English.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To publish: to have a work printed and put on sale: Cette maison édite surtout des romans policiers.^[4][5][8]
2. To edit a text: to establish, annotate and present it for publication.^[4][7]
3. (computing) To display data on a screen, or to prepare or change it for processing.^[4][2]

Word family

• rééditer

Related words

• éditeur
• édition
• inédit
• Latin ēdō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)