clameur

Forms

clameur f (plural clameurs)^[1] Old French clamor, clamur, clamour.^[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French clamor, inherited from Latin clāmōrem (“shout, cry”), the accusative of clāmor.^{[2][1][4][5][6]} The Latin noun also meant an acclamation and a complaint,^[5] and in early Medieval Latin a complaint at law;^[2] it is derived from clāmō (“to cry out”).^[5] The Old French sense “complaint”, shared with Old Occitan clamor, followed the verb clamer.^[4] The word displaced the verb's older derivative clain, which lived on in legal phrases until the 19th century.^[5] Cognate with Spanish clamor and Italian clamore.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1050 as clamor in the Vie de saint Alexis, meaning a cry.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

About 1175 Chrétien de Troyes uses it in Cligès for a complaint made to a judge or an authority.^[2] In Norman customary law clameur de haro (1583), recorded by dictionaries from Nicot in 1606, was a summons to appear at once before the judge; it was still used in the 19th century but has gone out of use, with the whole legal sense.^[2][5][3]

The sense “loud, prolonged shouting” remained, especially in the plural for an outcry of disapproval (15th century); the collective singular la clameur publique has become archaic.^[5][3] The GLLF dates the figurative sense “violent protest” to the end of the 15th century, in Commynes.^[7] English clamor (late 14th century) is from the Old French word.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Clamor “cry” in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2][5]
• c. 1175 – A complaint at law, in Chrétien de Troyes' Cligès.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English clamor is borrowed from Old French.^[8]
• 15th century – The plural used for a tumultuous outcry of disapproval.^[5]
• 1583 – Clameur de haro in customary law.^[2][5]
• 1606 – Nicot records clameur de haro.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loud, confused mass of cries, especially from a crowd: an uproar.^[9][2]
2. (often plural) An outcry of protest or disapproval.^[7][3]
3. (old law) A claim or summons before a judge;^[2][3] clameur de haro, a summons to appear before the judge at once.^[2][3]

Related words

• clamer
• acclamer
• déclamer
• exclamer
• proclamer
• réclamer
• Latin clāmor
• English clamor

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 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b 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 i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 731a
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert