blasonner

Forms

blasonner^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French blason + -er.^[2][3][4][1] Littré compares Italian blasonare.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1389, in Jehan le Petit's Livre du Champ d'or, meaning “to paint a coat of arms”.^[2][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The heraldic sense “to describe arms according to the rules” is recorded from 1530, in Palsgrave.^[2][6] In the mid-15th century, in Pathelin, the verb meant “to praise, extol”, and by antiphrasis, in the Cent nouvelles nouvelles, “to criticize, to blame”.^[2][6] Bloch and Wartburg also note a sense “to cover with one's shield”, and trace the old senses of blason “praise” and “criticism”, frequent in the 16th century, to the verb.^[7]

Furetière already treated the sense “to praise” as old, and the Académie called “to criticize” old in 1718, but it lived on in familiar language from 1740 and later in literary use.^[2][6] Littré notes that d'Aubigné wrongly blamed the verb as a new borrowing from foreign languages.^[5]

Timeline

• 1389 – First record, in Jehan le Petit's Livre du Champ d'or.^[2][4]
• Mid-15th century – Pathelin uses it for “to praise”.^[2]
• Mid-15th century – The Cent nouvelles nouvelles use it for “to criticize”.^[2]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records the sense “to describe arms”.^[2][6]
• 1664 – The noun blasonnement appears in Pomey.^[6]
• 1740 – The Académie calls the sense “to criticize” familiar.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (heraldry) To paint a coat of arms; to decorate with arms.^[8][6]
2. (heraldry) To describe or explain a coat of arms according to the rules of heraldry: Le héraut blasonna l'écu du chevalier.^[2][8][9]
3. To appear as a blazon on something; with de, to put something on an object as its emblem.^[2][4]
4. (literary) To mock, to criticize.^[8][4]
5. (archaic) To praise, to extol.^[4][6]

Word family

• blasonnement

Related words

• blason
• Italian blasonare

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)