évoquer

Pronunciation

• IPA: /e.vɔ.ke/^[1]

Forms

évoquer^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēvocō (“to call out, summon”), formed from ex- and vocō (“to call”), a derivative of vōx (“voice”).^[2][3][4] In Latin the verb was used in the army for calling up troops.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Eustache Deschamps uses it in the Miroir de mariage (late 14th century) for raising spirits by incantation.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In law it meant, from 1479, the transfer of a case to a higher court, which “calls it to itself”;^[2][3][7] Littré still records this sense.^[2][3][7] Rabelais uses it in its Latin sense, to call or summon, as in evoquer la pluie des cieux.^[3][4] Speakers came to évoquer the shades of heroes in an apostrophe, as Diderot writes of the mânes de Marathon, and André Chénier in 1794 uses it for recalling to memory.^[8][2] From 1832 (Balzac) it meant to bring to mind through images and associations, and at the end of the 19th century to mention, allude to.^[6][3] The derivatives évocable (1708) and évocateur (late 19th century) followed.^[5]

Timeline

• Late 14th century – Raising spirits, in Eustache Deschamps.^[2]
• 1479 – The legal sense.^[3]
• 16th century – “To call, summon”, in Rabelais.^[3]
• 1794 – “To recall to memory”, in Chénier.^[2]
• 1832 – “To call up images”, in Balzac.^[6]
• Late 19th century – “To mention”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To call up spirits or the dead by magic: évoquer les démons.^[8][9]
2. (literary) To address the absent or the dead in a speech, as if they were present.^[8][6]
3. To recall to memory: évoquer un souvenir, il évoqua son enfance.^[8][6]
4. To bring to mind by images or associations; to suggest.^[6][8]
5. To mention, touch on.^[1][6]
6. (law) To call a case before a higher court.^[7][9]

Word family

• évocation
• évocateur
• évocable

Related words

• convoquer
• invoquer
• provoquer
• révoquer
• voix
• Latin ēvocō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)