commémorer

Forms

commémorer^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin commemorō (“to mention, recall, evoke”),^[2][3][4][1] from com- and memorō (“to remind, recall”),^[3][5][6] the verb behind mémorable.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bersuire introduced it in the 14th century (about 1355), with the sense “to recall a fact”, or, as Rey puts it, already the modern sense “to mark the memory of someone or something with a ceremony”.^[2][3][5][7]

Semantic evolution

It remained a rare Latinism and dropped out of use; the TLFi has it until 1675, and Bloch and Wartburg from 1508 to 1675.^[2][4][3] It was taken up again during and after the Revolution (Chateaubriand, 1797), partly after commémoration and commémoratif, which had spread then.^[3][2] Littré still labels it a neologism.^[6]

Besides marking a memory with a ceremony, it came to mean more loosely “to recall” and “to celebrate”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1355 – Bersuire uses it.^[5][7][2]
• 1508 – Bloch and Wartburg's first record.^[4]
• 1675 – Widerhold's French–German dictionary records it, the last record before the gap.^[2]
• 1797 – Chateaubriand revives it.^[2][3]
• 1823 – In regular use again, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To commemorate, to mark the memory of a person or event with a ceremony: commémorer une victoire.^[8][2]
2. (by extension) To recall, call to mind.^[2][6]
3. (by extension) To celebrate: commémorer un anniversaire.^[2]

Related words

• commémoration
• commémoratif
• commémoraison
• mémorable
• Latin commemorō

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert