appointer

appointer¹ to pay a salary

Pronunciation

• /a.pwɛ̃.te/^[1]

Forms

appointer^[1]

Etymology

The word for paying a salary is inherited from Old French apointier, formed from Old French a- + point.^[2][3][4][1] Its first sense was to put something to the point, hence to settle a matter, the same development as in régler.^[5] Wiktionary compares a possible Late Latin *appunctare, from Latin ad and punctum.^[1][6]

The English verb appoint (late 14th century) was taken from the Anglo-French and Old French verb.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apointier is first recorded about 1268, in Étienne Boileau, meaning “to prepare, arrange”.^[2][5][9] Littré quotes the Livre des métiers, where the master of the criers must adjust the measures and apointier them, make them exact.^[10] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has it from about 1240, “to agree, settle, decide”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Middle French it meant “to come to an arrangement” (15th century, in Commynes), “to reconcile two parties” and “to agree that” (before 1514); these senses are now archaic, as is the tanners' use “to dress leather” (1680).^[9][10] In the courts it meant to settle a case or refer it for deliberation (1690), a sense the Académie already noted as old in the 18th century.^[9][5]

Only the sense “to pay” (1527), from the idea of giving what was agreed, stayed alive, first of soldiers and later, since 1584, of employees.^[9] The past participle appointé named a soldier on higher pay (1579), and in Switzerland it is still a noun for a private first class.^[9] In army slang appointer d'une corvée meant to give him a fatigue duty as a punishment.^[11][10]

Timeline

• c. 1268 – Apointier “to arrange” in Étienne Boileau.^[2][9]
• 15th century – Commynes uses it for “to come to terms”.^[10][9]
• 1527 – First recorded meaning “to pay”.^[9]
• 1579 – Appointé of a soldier on higher pay.^[9]
• 1584 – Said of paying employees.^[9]
• 1690 – The legal sense “to refer a case for deliberation”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pay a salary to, to employ for fixed pay.^[3][11][5]
2. (old law) To settle a case in court, or to refer it for deliberation.^[11][5][10]
3. (military slang, dated) Appointer d'une corvée: to give someone a fatigue duty as a punishment.^[11][10]

Word family

• appointement
• appoint
• désappointer

appointer² to sharpen to a point

Pronunciation

• /a.pwɛ̃.te/^[1]

Forms

appointer^[1]

Etymology

The word for sharpening to a point is formed from Old French a- + pointe.^{[2][3][5][4][12]} The noun is from Latin puncta.^[4]

A variant appointir of the same sense is recorded in the 16th century.^[2][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apointer is first found about 1177, meaning “to aim the point of something at someone”.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to point at” went out of use in the 16th century, but “to cut to a point” (1200–1220) lived on.^[9][2] The reflexive s'appointer “to end in a point” is literary and replaced an intransitive use found from the late 15th century to 1771.^[9][5] Rey notes that the word suffered from its clash with the more common appointer “to pay” and has become old-fashioned.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1177 – Apointer “to aim the point at”.^[2][9]
• 1200–1220 – First meaning “to cut to a point”.^[9]
• 16th century – The variant appointir.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (technical) To sharpen to a point, to make pointed: appointer un pieu.^[3][5]
2. S'appointer (rare, literary): to end in a pointe.^[5][9]