clerc

Forms

clerc m (plural clercs, feminine clergesse or cléresse or clerque)^[1] Old French clerjes (10th century), then clerc from about 1040.^[2][3] In Old French the nominative singular was li clers and the oblique le clerc.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French clerc, inherited from Late Latin clēricus (“member of the clergy”).^[2][3][5][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós), derived from κλῆρος (klêros, “lot drawn, inheritance”), which Christian Latin also borrowed as clērus (“clergy”).^[3][6][2] In the Bible the Greek noun rendered the Hebrew word by which God calls himself the inheritance of the Levites, and Christian Greek used it for the Christians and then for the clergy, seen as having God for their portion.^[6][7][3] The TLFi quotes Jerome's explanation: clerics are so called because they are the Lord's lot, or because the Lord is their lot.^[2] Rey also mentions the view that the religious sense stresses choice by lot for an office, as in the Acts of the Apostles.^[3]

In Medieval Latin the word also meant “a learned man” (late 11th–early 12th century), since the clergy were almost the only people who could read and write.^[3][2] Rey notes a hypothesis, which he calls uncertain, that the Greek noun first named the object drawn and is related to a Celtic word for “stone, piece of wood” seen in Old Irish clār and Welsh claur.^[3]

Cognate with Old Occitan clergue, Spanish clérigo and Italian chierico.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as clerjes in the Vie de saint Léger (second half of the 10th century), for one who has received holy orders; the form clerc appears about 1040 in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Already in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1040) the word also meant a scholar or learned man.^[2] Throughout the Middle Ages the clerc, set against the layman, was the man of letters, and the sense survives in literary use for an intellectual, notably through Julien Benda's La Trahison des clercs (1927).^[6][3] In the language of procedure it came to name an employee of a public officer (1275), and by 1283 Beaumanoir uses it so;^[2][3] clerc de notaire is the common modern use.^[2][3]

The proverb il ne faut pas parler latin devant les clercs warns against holding forth on a subject before those who know it better.^[2][4] English clerk (about 1200) comes from Old English cleric and Old French clerc together, and its office sense recalls the time when only the clergy could write.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 980 – Clerjes appears in the Vie de saint Léger.^[2][3]
• c. 1040 – The Vie de saint Alexis has clerc both for a cleric and for a learned man.^[2]
• c. 1200 – English clerk is recorded.^[8]
• 1275 – First used for an employee of a public officer.^[2][3]
• 1283 – Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis uses it in the same sense.^[2]
• 1927 – Julien Benda's La Trahison des clercs gives it currency for intellectuals.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cleric: a man who has entered the ecclesiastical state, formerly by receiving the tonsure.^[9][2][10]
2. (dated or literary) A learned person, a scholar or intellectual;^[9][11][10] grand clerc “an expert”: il n'est pas grand clerc en chimie.^[9][11][10]
3. A clerk in the office of a notary, bailiff or other public officer: clerc de notaire.^[9][10][2]
4. Pas de clerc: a blunder made from inexperience.^[9]

Word family

• clergeon
• clergie

Related words

• clergé
• clérical
• Latin clēricus
• English clerk

Usage notes

The final ⟨c⟩ is silent, and the ⟨s⟩ of the plural is not sounded in liaison.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 774a
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ 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. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)