ancêtre

Forms

ancêtre m or f by sense (plural ancêtres)^[1] Old French subject case ancestre, object case anceisor, ancessor.^[2][3][4] The spelling ancêtre appears in the 16th century.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ancestre, inherited from Latin antecessor (“scout, predecessor”), from the Latin nominative.^[2][3][5][4] The object-case form ancessor (first as anceisor, mid-11th century), from the accusative antecessōrem, lived on until the 15th century,^[2][5][4] and both forms also existed in Old Occitan ancestre and ancessor.^[5][3]

The Latin word is an agent noun of antecēdō (“to go before”),^[3][6] from ante (“before”) and cēdō (“to go”).^[3][7] It was first a military term for a scout, then meant a predecessor in an office, the main sense in Medieval Latin, where from the 8th century it was also used of forebears, encroaching on avus (“grandfather”).^[2][3]

The learned antécesseur (about 1250) is a doublet.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The object case anceisor is first found in the mid-11th century in the Vie de saint Alexis: Ja mais n'iert tels com fut as anceisors “never will it be as it was in the forebears' time”.^[2][4] The subject case ancestre is first found in Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Ancestre had its present sense from the start, but in Old French also meant “predecessor” (12th century) and “old man” (Wace, mid-12th century).^[3] Both senses died out; the first was taken up again in the 19th century (Dumas) as “forerunner, initiator”, and the second in the 20th century, ironically, of an old person.^[3] At the end of the 12th century the plural ancestres named the line of ascendants before the father.^[2]

The word is more alive in French-speaking places with an ancestor cult, such as sub-Saharan Africa, Polynesia and New Caledonia, where les ancêtres can mean the spirits of the dead.^[3] It is also used of a species from which another descends.^[8][9]

The English word ancestor (about 1300) comes from the Old French word.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Anceisor appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2][4]
• Mid-12th century – Wace uses ancestre for an old man.^[3]
• 1160–1174 – Wace's Roman de Rou has the subject case ancestre.^[2]
• Late 12th century – The plural ancestres names the line of ascendants.^[2]
• c. 1250 – The learned antecesseur is borrowed.^[3]
• c. 1300 – The English word ancestor is recorded.^[7]
• 15th century – The object-case form ancessor goes out of use.^[3][5]
• 16th century – The spelling ancêtre appears.^[3]
• 1853 – The adjective ancestral is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person from whom one is descended; a forebear, especially one before the grandparents.^{[8][9][10][2]}
2. Les ancêtres: those who lived before us, the people of past centuries.^[9]
3. A species from which another descends; also a thing that prefigures another.^[8][9][10]
4. A distant precursor or initiator: un ancêtre du roman moderne.^[8][9][10]
5. (familiar, ironic) An old person.^[10][4][3]
6. (sub-Saharan Africa, New Caledonia) Les ancêtres: the spirits of the dead.^[3]

Word family

• ancestral

Related words

• antécesseur
• Latin antecessor
• English ancestor

Usage notes

The word is masculine;^[10][1] Larousse notes that the feminine une ancêtre is used for a woman.^[10][1]

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 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 i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)