auteur

Forms

auteur m or f (plural auteurs, feminine autrice or auteure or (rare) auteuse or (rare, dated) authoress or auteuresse or auteuresse)^[1] Old French auctur and autor, often written auctor.^[2][3] In the 16th century it was spelled autheur.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin auctor (“one who makes grow, founder, originator”), from augeō (“to make grow, increase”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} In Latin it meant an instigator, an adviser and, in law, the guarantor of a sale, and it also gave auctōritās.^[2] Christian Latin used the word of God, which may have led to confusion with āctor, from agō (“to do, act”).^[2] Wiktionary instead treats the French word as inherited, through Middle French autheur and Old French autor.^[1]

Compare Old Occitan auctor, Spanish autor and Italian autore.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1160 as auctur in Wace, meaning a writer, and in 1174 as autor for the person who is at the origin of something.^[4][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “writer, in relation to his work” is both the oldest and the commonest.^[2] Used absolutely, it names anyone who has written works, and it was extended to other creations: a painting, a piece of music, a film.^[2][6] By metonymy, les auteurs has meant their texts since the 17th century.^[2] The legal sense, the person from whom a right derives, appears in 1606 (autheur), and droit d'auteur “copyright” has been current since the French law of 1866.^[2]

The other early sense, the person who caused or did something, usually an act such as a crime, has lasted beside it.^[2] In classical French it also meant an instigator or party leader.^[6] Les auteurs de mes jours, from Racine, is a literary or jocular way of saying “my parents”.^[5][8]

European French has had hardly any feminine: femme-auteur, autrice, auteuse (1785, Restif), auteuresse and authoress (1867, Taine) are found, and Quebec uses auteure.^[2] The derivative coauteur dates from 1857.^[2] English borrowed auteur in 1962 for a film-maker regarded as the author of a film, from the French writings of François Truffaut.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Auctur “writer” in Wace.^[4][5][2]
• 1174 – Autor “originator”.^[4][5][2]
• c. 1562 – A variant conautheur “co-author”.^[2]
• 16th century – Spelled autheur.^[3]
• 1606 – The legal sense appears.^[2]
• 1785 – Restif uses the feminine auteuse.^[2]
• 1857 – The derivative coauteur is recorded.^[2]
• 1866 – Droit d'auteur becomes current after a French law.^[2]
• 1962 – English borrows auteur for a film-maker.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The person who is the first cause or origin of something; a creator, founder or inventor: l'auteur d'une découverte.^[5][10][11]
2. The person who carried out an act, especially an offence: l'auteur du cambriolage.^[5][10][6]
3. The author of a literary, artistic or scientific work: l'auteur de ce roman, droit d'auteur.^[5][6][2]
4. A writer, a person who writes books.^[6][2]
5. By metonymy, an author's works: étudier les auteurs.^[2]
6. (law) The person from whom one holds a right or an obligation.^[5][2]
7. (literary or jocular) Les auteurs de mes jours: my parents.^[5][8]

Word family

• coauteur

Related words

• autorité
• augmenter
• Latin auctor
• English author
• English auteur

Usage notes

For a woman, auteur, autrice and auteure are all used; the DHLF notes that autrice, the older and more regular form, long remained rare, and that auteure is the usual Quebec form.^[2][1]

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 s t u v w x y Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ 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