cérémonie

Forms

cérémonie f (plural cérémonies)^[1] Middle French serymonies, serimonie and cerymonie.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin caerimōnia (“religious awe, worship”), a word used chiefly in the plural for rites and which took the sense of Christian ceremonies in Church Latin (541).^{[2][4][5][6][7]} The ancient authors derived the Latin word from the name of the Etruscan town of Caere, through a supposed Etruscan form, but this is unproven;^[4][3] Littré also mentions a derivation from a root meaning “to make”, the thing done being the sacred act, which he calls uncertain.^[3]

Compare Old Occitan ceremonia, Spanish ceremonia and Italian cerimonia.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the plural, ceremonies, in a Bible of 1226–1250, for the solemn forms that accompany a religious feast.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon secularised: before 1370 Jean le Bel uses it of a lay solemnity that follows a set plan, and in 1404 Christine de Pisan of the pomp that accompanies it, whence maître de cérémonies (1595).^[2][4] In social life it came to mean conventional marks of deference (late 15th century: Commynes's sans cerymonie), often with a pejorative note, as in faire des cérémonies.^[2][4][3] Bloch and Wartburg place this figurative sense in the 16th century.^[5]

The English word ceremony, introduced by Wycliffe in the late 14th century, comes from Old French ceremonie and directly from Medieval Latin.^[8]

Timeline

• 1226–1250 – Ceremonies in a Bible, of the forms of a religious feast.^[2]
• before 1370 – Jean le Bel uses serymonies of a lay solemnity.^[2][3]
• 1374 – The derivative cérémoniel is recorded.^[4]
• 1404 – Christine de Pisan uses serimonie of ceremonial pomp.^[2][3]
• 1458 – The derivative cérémonieux appears.^[4]
• late 15th century – Commynes writes sans cerymonie, of excessive civility.^[2][3]
• 1595 – Maistre de ceremonies is recorded.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The outward forms and solemn rules with which a religious worship is celebrated; a religious rite: la cérémonie du mariage.^[9][2]
2. A formal ceremony marking an important event of public or social life: tenue de cérémonie, maître de cérémonie.^[9][2]
3. Excessive politeness or formality in private life: faire des cérémonies, sans cérémonie “without fuss”.^[9][3][4]

Word family

• cérémonieux
• cérémonieusement

Related words

• cérémonial
• Latin caerimōnia
• English ceremony

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 604a
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert