avouer

Pronunciation

• IPA: /a.vwe/^[1]

Forms

avouer^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French avoer, inherited from Latin advocō (“to call to oneself, summon”), from ad- and vocō (“to call”), from vōx (“voice”).^[2][3][1][4] The Old French forms “avoer”, then “avouer” and “il aveue” (1283), where “avuer”, “il avue” would be expected, are explained by an early levelling of the stressed forms on the unstressed ones, helped by Medieval Latin and by the derivative avoué, Wiktionary also allows a Latinate influence.^[2][1] Littré took it as a compound of à and vouer, Bloch and Wartburg note that this view only explains the reflexive s'avouer “to declare oneself someone's man”.^[5][6]

From the same Latin verb come, by borrowing, avocat and, by inheritance, “avoué”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace has avoer in 1155; it was first a term of feudal law, “to acknowledge someone as one's lord”, a sense Medieval Latin advocare also had.^[3][7][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old French it widened to “approve, ratify” (early 13th century) and “accept as valid” (1387, Froissart); in Middle French it also meant to acknowledge a power or a person (Rabelais's advouer Dieu), to allow, to protect, and to recognise a child as one's son (1538).^[2] These uses faded in the 17th century.^[2][7]

The modern sense, “to admit something wrong”, is a narrowing of “to acknowledge as true” that Latin did not have, Rey dates it from Robert Estienne (1538), while Bloch and Wartburg find it usual only from the 17th century.^[2][6] S'avouer coupable is recorded in 1671, and the participle survives in the proverb faute avouée est à demi pardonnée “a fault confessed is half forgiven”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1155 – Avoer, Wace.^[3]
• 1283 – Il aveue, Beaumanoir.^[2][6]
• 1387 – “To accept as valid”, Froissart.^[2]
• 1538 – To confess a wrong; to acknowledge a child.^[2]
• 1671 – S'avouer coupable.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To admit, confess, acknowledge as true, usually with some reluctance: avouer un crime, j'avoue que….^[8][1]
2. S'avouer: to admit to being: s'avouer vaincu.^[8][2]
3. (literary) To acknowledge as one's own: avouer un livre, avouer pour fils.^[8][7]
4. (literary) To approve, ratify: des principes que la morale peut avouer.^[8][7]
5. (historical) To acknowledge as one's feudal lord.^[8][7]

Word family

• aveu
• inavouable
• inavoué
• avouable
• désavouer
• désaveu

Related words

• avocat
• convoquer
• voix
• avoué
• vouer

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 201a
5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert