allégorique

Forms

allégorique (plural allégoriques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin allēgoricus, a Christian Latin word attested in the same sense from Tertullian on,^[2][3][1] and itself from Ancient Greek ἀλληγορικός (allēgorikós).^[4][1] It belongs with allégorie, from allēgoria, from Ancient Greek ἀλληγορία (allēgoría), a word for speaking figuratively, “in other terms”, formed from Greek words for “other” and “to speak in public”.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi dates the first record to about 1470, in theology, in Le Livre de la discipline d'amour divine: Sens de la saincte et divine escripture : tropologique ou moral, allegorique ou spirituel (“senses of holy and divine Scripture: tropological or moral, allegorical or spiritual”).^[2] The Petit Robert and Picoche date it to the 14th century.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the allegorical sense of Scripture, one of the senses of medieval exegesis beside the literal, moral and anagogical,^[2][6] and Larousse still records the méthode allégorique of biblical interpretation.^[7] It spread to literature and the arts, for a work or figure that expresses an idea through an allegory.^[2][6] The adverb allégoriquement is recorded from 1488.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1470 – First recorded in theology, of the spiritual sense of Scripture.^[2][3]
• 1488 – The adverb allégoriquement appears.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. allegorical: belonging to or using allegory, expressed through symbols: un tableau allégorique, un personnage allégorique.^[6][2][8]
2. (theology) Of the sense of Scripture beyond the literal one: le sens allégorique.^[2][6][7]

Word family

• allégoriquement

Related words

• allégorie
• allégoriser
• allégoriste

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette