accent

Forms

accent m (plural accents)^[1] Old French acent and aucent (early 13th century).^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin accentus (“intonation”), first recorded about 1220.^{[4][2][5][3][6]} The Latin noun was used to translate the Greek term that also gave prosodie.^[2][5][7] It is derived from accinō (“to sing to”), from ad- and canō (“to sing”), the source of chanter.^[2][8] In Latin it named a pitch accent from Quintilian on, and became a stress accent only around the 5th century.^[4]

The same Latin word gave Old Occitan accent, Spanish acento and Italian accento.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1220 Gautier de Coinci uses aucent metaphorically, beside ditongue, of a candle so short that neither accent nor diphthong could make it long.^[4] The proper sense, the raising of the voice on a syllable, is found in Brunet Latin's Trésor (1267–1268).^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the word covered the inflections of the voice (1546), especially those that express feeling (1559, Amyot).^[2][4] As a written sign it dates from 1549, when Robert Estienne named the accent aigu, grave and circonflexe.^[2][4][9] Bloch and Wartburg note that its later senses are French developments from the 17th century on.^[5]

Only in 1680 did accent come to mean the pronunciation typical of a nation or region (Richelet), measured against a social norm: the accent du Midi or accent parisien are departures from the speech of the Île-de-France, itself said to have no accent, though Provençal speakers call it the accent pointu.^[4][2] Music took the word up in the 18th century (accent musical, 1759), and painting used it for a local intensity in the late 19th century.^[2] The derived verb accenter gave way to accentuer, borrowed from Latin about 1300.^[2]

Timeline

• 1212 – The earliest record in the Anglo-Norman Dictionary, for an accent or diacritical mark.^[10]
• c. 1220 – Gautier de Coinci uses aucent.^[4][2]
• 1267–1268 – Brunet Latin uses it for the raising of the voice on a syllable.^[4]
• 1546 – It covers the inflections of the voice.^[2]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne names the written accents.^[4][2]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for tones expressing feeling.^[4][8]
• 1680 – Richelet records the sense “regional or national pronunciation”.^[4][2]
• 1759 – Accent musical appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (linguistics) stress or raised pitch on a syllable: accent tonique, accent d'intensité.^[11][4][8]
2. A written accent mark: accent aigu, accent grave, accent circonflexe.^[11][2][1]
3. A way of pronouncing typical of a country, region or social group: accent du Midi.^[12][2][8]
4. A tone of voice that shows a feeling: Sa voix avait un accent de tristesse.^[12][4]
5. (music) The stressing of a note in a melody.^[11][1]
6. Mettre l'accent sur: to emphasize.^[1]

Word family

• accentuel

Related words

• accentuer
• accentuation
• chanter
• prosodie
• Latin accentus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 70b
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)