compère

Forms

compère m (plural compères)^[1] Old French conpere (1174–1177) and compere.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French conpere, inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin compater (“godfather”).^[2][3][4][5] The Christian Latin word is formed from cum (“with”) and pater (“father”), literally “father with”, parallel to commater, the source of commère.^[3][6][7]

Cognate with Old Occitan compaire, Catalan compare and Spanish compadre.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as conpere in the Roman de Renart (1174–1177), for a child's godfather in relation to the parents or the godmother.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Like commère, the word moved from a term of spiritual kinship to a term of friendship: by the end of the 12th century, in Aiol, compere was a familiar title for a friend.^[2][3] The sense “partner, accomplice” is recorded in the Satyre Ménippée of 1594,^[2][3] and Bloch and Wartburg date the pejorative use to Voltaire in 1768.^[4] It later named the hidden accomplice of a conjurer or a comic actor,^[7][9] and in 1907 the master of ceremonies of a music-hall revue.^[7]

The word is now archaic or jocular in France, and generally kinder than commère, but it is still alive in the French and Creole of the Antilles as a friendly way of addressing a man, and before names of animals in folk tales, as in compère lapin.^[3] English borrowed it as compere in 1738, and used it for the host of a show from 1914.^[10]

Timeline

• 1174–1177 – Conpere appears in the Roman de Renart.^[2]
• Late 12th century – Used as a familiar title in Aiol.^[2]
• 1564 – The bird name compère-loriot is recorded.^[3]
• 1594 – The Satyre Ménippée uses it for an accomplice.^[2]
• 1738 – English borrows it as compere.^[10]
• 1768 – Voltaire uses it in a pejorative sense.^[4]
• 1907 – It names the master of ceremonies of a revue.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic or regional) A child's godfather in relation to the godmother and the parents.^[9][11][2]
2. (familiar, dated) A friend, companion;^[9][11][12] un joyeux compère, a cheerful fellow, a bon vivant.^[9][11][12]
3. A secret accomplice, especially a person in the audience working with a conjurer or street seller: le magicien avait un compère au premier rang.^[9][11][12]
4. The partner and stooge of a comic performer.^[11][7]
5. (dated) The master of ceremonies of a music-hall revue.^[11][7]

Word family

• compérage
• compère-loriot

Related words

• père
• commère
• Ecclesiastical Latin compater

Usage notes

The bird name compère-loriot (1564), also a word for a stye on the eyelid (1838), is of disputed origin; one theory takes it as a Lyon form for the loriot lengthened with compère.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 973b
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)