condamner

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɔ̃.da.ne/^[1]
• IPA: /kɔ̃.dɑ.ne/^[1]

Forms

condamner^[1] Old French condemner (late 10th century), condampner (12th century); condamner from about 1360 (Froissart), though forms in -emn- lasted into the 17th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin condemnō (“to declare guilty and sentence; to blame”), already altered to a form with ⟨a⟩ in glosses, formed from intensive com- and damnō (“to condemn”), from damnum (“loss, harm”).^[4][2][3] The vowel ⟨a⟩ comes from the influence of damner.^[4][5][3] In late Latin the verb also meant “to make unusable” (of land, in the Salic Law), and in Christian Latin it was a doublet of damnō.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Léger (late 10th century) has piez condemnets, “injured feet”, apparently from the sense “to make unusable”.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, to sentence someone, is in the Oxford Psalter in the early 12th century.^[6][4] Froissart (about 1360) uses it for closing up a bridge or an opening, and in 1678 it is used of a ship declared unfit for service.^[6][4] Montluc, before 1577, writes that the doctors have “condemned” him not to recover for a year;^[6][4] Bossuet before 1704 uses it of a patient given up as incurable.^[6][4] Pascal in 1669 applies it to a book declared contrary to doctrine, Ronsard in 1578 has “to force to something painful”, and Chateaubriand in 1810 writes les apparences me condamnaient.^[6][4] In African French condamner une voiture means to lock it.^[4]

Timeline

• Late 10th century – Piez condemnets, in the Vie de saint Léger.^[6]
• Early 12th century – To sentence, in the Oxford Psalter.^[6]
• c. 1360 – The spelling condamner; to block up, in Froissart.^[2][4]
• Before 1577 – Of a patient, in Montluc.^[6]
• 1578 – “To force to something painful”, in Ronsard.^[6]
• 1669 – Of a book, in Pascal.^[6]
• 1678 – Condamner un vaisseau.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sentence, declare guilty and punish by a judgment: condamner à mort, condamné pour meurtre.^[7][8]
2. (of a thing) To show to be guilty: ce témoignage condamne l'accusé.^[7][9]
3. To declare a patient incurable: les médecins l'ont condamné.^[7][4]
4. To force to something painful: condamner à une besogne.^[7][8]
5. To condemn, blame strongly; to declare a book contrary to doctrine.^[4][6]
6. To block up a door, a window or a passage permanently.^[1][4]
7. (African French) To lock: condamner une voiture.^[4]

Word family

• condamnation
• condamnable
• condamné

Related words

• damner
• dam
• Latin condemnō
• English condemn

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette