comparer

Forms

comparer^[1] Old French cumparer (about 1120).^[2][3] Littré notes that Old French also said comperer.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin comparō (“to pair, match, compare”).^[2][3][5][6] The Latin verb comes from compār (“equal, alike”), formed with com- and pār (“equal”), the source of pair and pareil.^[3][7][4]

Littré lists Occitan comparar, Spanish comparar and Italian comparare.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Oxford Psalter (about 1120) cumparer means to set beings or things of different nature side by side to bring out a shared feature or an equality.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By the first third of the 13th century (Reclus de Molliens) the verb also meant examining the likenesses and differences between people or things.^[2][3] This gave special uses in law, comparer des écritures (Académie, 1718), and in the natural sciences, where the past participle became an adjective, first in Cuvier's anatomie comparée (1805), followed by droit comparé and littérature comparée.^[2][3]

Old French had already borrowed the related comparaison (12th century) and comparatif (1290) from Latin;^[6][3][2] comparateur, the name of a measuring instrument, is recorded in 1838.^[6][3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Cumparer in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• Early 13th century – Reclus de Molliens uses it for examining likeness and difference.^[2]
• c. 1268 – Brunetto Latini uses it in the Trésor.^[2]
• 1718 – The Académie records comparer des écritures.^[2][3]
• 1805 – Cuvier's Leçons d'anatomie comparée.^[2][3]
• 1838 – The derivative comparateur is recorded in physics.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To examine the likenesses and differences between people or things: comparer deux devis.^[8][9][10]
2. To set side by side in order to liken one to another: comparer la mer à un miroir.^[8][10]
3. To bring together beings or things of different kinds to show a shared feature, as in a simile.^[8][2]
4. (pronominal) To be compared, to bear comparison: Ces deux vins ne peuvent se comparer.^[8]

Word family

• comparateur

Related words

• comparaison
• comparable
• comparatif
• pair
• pareil
• Latin comparō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c 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, 969a
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse