assemblée

Forms

assemblée f (plural assemblées)^[1] Old French asanblée, asemblee, assemblee.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Used as a noun, it is the feminine past participle from French assembler.^{[5][6][7][1][8][9]} The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *assimulō (“to put together”), from Latin simul (“together”).^[10] Wiktionary adds that assimiler is a doublet of the verb, borrowed from the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1155, in the sense “action of gathering”, now lost; modern French uses rassemblement for it.^[7][5] In the 12th-century Roncevaux it is used of a clash of armies: Ne se font mal à icelle asanblée.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it named, from the 12th century, the people gathered together, with special uses: a gathering for pleasure (13th century), a private ball (1694) and a local festival (1554), still used regionally.^[7] Bloch and Wartburg note that it still means a village fête from Normandy to Gascony.^[10] It also meant an army (12th–14th centuries) and an armed gathering.^[7][3] From 1535 it translated Latin ecclesia, the church, and assemblée des fidèles is found from 1690.^[7]

The political sense of a body meeting to deliberate appears in the 14th century, as “parliament” before 1356.^[7] It had a great future in political institutions, as in assemblée législative (1781) and especially after the Revolution: Assemblée nationale is recorded in 1788, and l'Assemblée alone for it from 1937.^[7]

Timeline

• 1155 – First recorded, meaning “action of gathering”.^[7][5][6]
• 12th century – Used for a body of people gathered together.^[7]
• 13th century – Used for a gathering for pleasure.^[7]
• before 1356 – Used for a parliament.^[7]
• 1535 – Translates ecclesia, the church.^[7]
• 1554 – Used for a local festival.^[7]
• 1694 – Used for a private ball.^[7]
• 1781 – Assemblée législative is recorded.^[7]
• 1788 – Assemblée nationale is recorded.^[7]
• 1937 – L'Assemblée is used alone for the national assembly.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) The act of gathering people in one place.^[6][11]
2. The people gathered in one place for a common purpose, an audience or gathering.^[6][12][1]
3. The congregation of the faithful at a service.^[6][2]
4. A meeting of the members of a body, called to deliberate: assemblée générale, a general meeting.^[6][12]
5. A deliberative or legislative body, an assembly: l'Assemblée nationale.^[6][2][1]
6. (military, dated) The drum roll or bugle call that gathered soldiers: battre l'assemblée.^[11][2]
7. (regional) A local fair or village festival.^[10][7]

Word family

• Assemblée nationale

Related words

• assembler
• rassemblement
• assimiler

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 541a
10. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
11. ^ a b 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
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)