Etymologically
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évoquer

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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

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)