commentateur

Forms

commentateur m (plural commentateurs, feminine commentatrice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin commentātor (“one who interprets writings”), from commentor (“to study, explain”), the source of commenter.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Littré compares Spanish comentador and Italian commentatore.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nicole Oresme uses it in his translation of Aristotle's Ethics (about 1370), for a person who writes a commentary on a text.^[2][3] The Grand Robert and the GLLF date this first record to 1361.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Introduced by learned clerics, the word stayed very rare and spread only from the beginning of the 17th century, when Cotgrave records it (1611).^[3][2] It long meant the author of a critical commentary on a text or work, as in les commentateurs de la Bible;^[6][7] Littré notes that Averroes was called the Commentator, and that the medieval jurists who commented on Roman law were known as les commentateurs.^[6][7] In journalism it came to mean a reporter who comments on the news (1904), on radio and later television.^[3][7]

Timeline

• c. 1370 – Oresme uses it in his translation of the Ethics.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it, after which it comes into general use.^[2][3]
• 1904 – It is used of a journalist who comments on the news.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The author of a commentary on a text or work, a literary, historical or legal commentator: les commentateurs de Montaigne.^[7][2][6]
2. A person who gives a view or judgement on events.^[2]
3. A journalist who comments on the news or on an event on radio or television: un commentateur sportif.^[7][4][2]

Related words

• commenter
• commentaire
• Latin commentor

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert