alphabet

Forms

alphabet m (plural alphabets)^[1] Middle French alphabete (1395).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin alphabētum, a word used by the Church beside abecedārium.^[2][4][5][6] The Latin word is a calque of the Greek, from Ancient Greek ἀλφάβητος (alphábētos), made up of the names of the first two letters, ἄλφα (álpha) and βῆτα (bêta);^[4][2][1] Rey and Wiktionary trace these letter names to Semitic.^[4][1]

Cognate with Old Occitan alphabet, Catalan alfabet, Italian alfabeto and Spanish alfabeto.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rey and the Robert dictionaries date it to about 1140.^[4][3][8] The TLFi's first record is alphabete in Jean d'Outremeuse's Myreur des histors (1395): des XXIIII lettres del alphabete, c'este li A. B. C., “of the 24 letters of the alphabet, that is the A B C”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From 1547 it also named the small book from which children learnt to read.^[2][4] Phrases built on that image, être à l'alphabet (1669), n'en être qu'à l'alphabet (1694) and renvoyer quelqu'un à l'alphabet (1718), said that someone knew only the rudiments, and are all now archaic.^[4][2]

The word was extended to other series of signs: d'Aubigné, before 1630, wrote of an alphabet made of gestures and fingers.^[2][4] Diplomats used it for the key of a cipher (before 1580),^[2] and it also meant alphabetical order (1666), a series of things of the same kind (1734) and a dictionary (1738).^[2] Balzac used it in 1835 for a summary of basic knowledge.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – First record, according to Rey and the Robert dictionaries.^[4][3]
• 1395 – Alphabete appears in Jean d'Outremeuse.^[2]
• 1440–1500 – Guillaume Tardif writes alphabet.^[2]
• 1547 – It names a child's reading book.^[2][4]
• before 1580 – It is used for the key of a cipher.^[2]
• before 1630 – D'Aubigné uses it for a system of signs made with the hands.^[2]
• 1666 – It means alphabetical order.^[2]
• 1718 – The Académie records renvoyer à l'alphabet.^[2]
• 1738 – Voltaire uses it for a dictionary.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An alphabet, the set of letters of a writing system in their customary order: l'alphabet grec, réciter l'alphabet.^[8][7][2]
2. (by extension) Any set of conventional signs: l'alphabet morse, l'alphabet braille.^[8][9]
3. A primer, a small book for learning to read.^[9][7]

Word family

• alphabétique

Related words

• abécédaire
• analphabète
• Latin alphabētum

Usage notes

Bloch and Wartburg note that the popular term was for a long time croix de par Dieu, from the cross printed on the binding of primers.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 q r 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 348b
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse