éducateur

Forms

éducateur m (plural éducateurs, feminine éducatrice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēducātor (“educator, trainer”).^[2][3][1] The Latin noun is formed on the supine of ēducō (“to bring up, instruct”).^[4][5] Rey traces that verb to dūcō (“to lead”).^[3] Wiktionary adds that the French word can be analysed as éduquer with the suffix -ateur.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 1527 in Dassy's Peregrin, paired with enseigneurs: educateurs et enseigneurs, people who bring up and teach.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The noun, “a person who sees to someone's education”, remained rare until 1836.^[2][3] As an adjective it meant “relating to education” in Cuvier's organes éducateurs (1805), and then “that contributes to education”, in Michelet (1857 according to the TLFi, 1866 according to Rey).^[2][3] About 1960 the noun took on the special sense of a trained person in charge of the education of certain groups of young people, as in éducateur spécialisé.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1527 – Dassy uses educateurs in the Peregrin.^[2]
• 1805 – Cuvier uses it as an adjective, organes éducateurs.^[2][3]
• 1836 – The noun comes into wider use.^[2][3]
• 1857 – Michelet uses the feminine éducatrice as an adjective.^[2]
• c. 1960 – It names a trained youth worker.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who educates others, an educator or pédagogue.^[6][4]
2. A trained person in charge of the education of young people or of people with disabilities: éducateur spécialisé.^[6][3]

Adjective

1. Contributing to education, educational: le rôle éducateur des jeux.^[6][4]

Related words

• éduquer
• éducation
• éducatif
• rééducateur
• Latin ēducātor

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert