citer

Forms

citer^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin citō (“to summon, to call to court”),^[2][3][4][1] the frequentative of cieō (“to set in motion, to call”).^[5][3] In Republican Latin the verb belonged to politics and law, for convening the Senate or summoning to court, and so for calling as a witness and mentioning, while the sense of setting in motion or stirring up is mostly imperial.^[3] Rey traces that verb to an Indo-European root of motion.^[3]

Cognate with Old Occitan citar, Spanish citar and Italian citare.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1257; the TLFi's first, isolated record, in a fabliau in a manuscript of the 13th or 14th century, has citer someone to do something, “to urge or order someone to do it”.^[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century it became a legal term, “to summon to appear in court”, as in Bersuire's translation of Livy: Quant il virent que li pere citez ne venoient pas en senat (“When they saw that the summoned fathers did not come to the Senate”).^[2][5][3] The Anglo-Norman verb meant to summon before a church court in the late 14th century.^[6]

Only in the 17th century did the word take the common Latin sense “to quote the words or writings of someone”: citer les auteurs is found in Cardinal Du Perron, who died in 1618.^[3][2][5] Trévoux recorded the sense “to name someone or something worth noticing” in 1704, and the military sense “to mention in dispatches” dates from about 1790.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1257 – Bloch and Wartburg's first date.^[4]
• 13th or 14th century – Used in a fabliau for urging someone to do something.^[2]
• 14th century – Bersuire uses it for summoning to court.^[2][5]
• 1375–1384 – Anglo-Norman citer “to summon by church authority”.^[6]
• before 1618 – Du Perron writes citer les auteurs.^[2][5]
• 1704 – Trévoux records “to name as worth noticing”.^[2][7]
• c. 1790 – The military sense appears.^[7]
• 1799 – Précité “aforementioned” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law) To summon someone to appear before a court: citer un témoin.^[8][2][5]
2. To quote a text or an author in support of what one says: Le conférencier a cité Montaigne.^[8][5][1]
3. To mention, to give: citer un exemple, citer ses sources.^[8]
4. To name a person or thing as worthy of notice: citer quelqu'un en exemple.^[8][2]
5. (military) To commend a soldier or unit in an official citation: citer une unité à l'ordre de l'armée.^[8][7]

Word family

• sus-cité
• précité
• citable

Related words

• citation
• inciter
• réciter
• Latin citō

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d 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