consonne

Forms

consonne f (plural consonnes)^[1] Earlier consonant (masculine, 13th–16th century) and consonante (feminine, 1546–1771).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnsona (“consonant”), a term of the Latin grammarians, with littera (“letter”) understood, the feminine of the adjective cōnsonus (“sounding together”), properly the letter whose sound joins that of the vowel.^[2][3][4][1] The adjective comes from cōnsonō (“to sound together”), from cum (“with”) and sonus (“sound”).^[3][5]

It replaced the older consonant, a masculine noun used from the 13th to the 16th century, and consonante, a feminine noun used from 1546 to 1771, both borrowed from the grammarians' cōnsonāns, a synonym of the same grammatical term.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that in the 15th and 16th centuries the forms ending in ⟨-ant⟩ and ⟨-ante⟩ were the more frequent form.^[4] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary records an Anglo-Norman noun consonne (“consonant”) in the early 14th century.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1529 in Geoffroy Tory's Champ fleury, a treatise on letters, as the name of a consonant.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its grammatical sense: a letter that is not a vowel and, in later phonetics, the sound such a letter stands for.^[2][8] It was also used as an adjective, in lettre consonne, from 1694, but the Académie noted in 1835 that the noun was far more common, and the adjective has since gone out of use.^[2][3] Littré still records les lettres consonnes and the old names i consonne for ⟨j⟩ and u consonne for ⟨v⟩.^[5]

In 1872 it gave the linguistic terms consonantique, formed after German, and consonantisme “system of the consonants of a language”, opposed to vocalique and vocalisme.^[3]

Timeline

• 13th century – The older noun consonant appears in Huon le Roi's Abc.^[2]
• Early 14th century – Anglo-Norman consonne “consonant”.^[6]
• 1529 – Consonne appears in Geoffroy Tory's Champ fleury.^[2][7]
• 1546 – Rabelais uses the feminine consonante.^[2][3]
• 1694 – The Académie records the adjective in lettre consonne.^[2]
• 1771 – Last record of consonante, in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux.^[2]
• 1872 – The derivatives consonantique and consonantisme appear.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (phonetics) A consonant, a speech sound made by narrowing or closing the passage of the breath, as opposed to a vowel: consonnes sourdes, consonnes sonores, consonnes occlusives.^[8][2][7]
2. A letter of the alphabet that stands for such a sound: Le mot « strict » commence par trois consonnes.^[8][5]

Word family

• consonantique
• consonantisme
• semi-consonne

Related words

• consonance
• consonant
• consoner
• son²
• voyelle
• Latin cōnsona

Usage notes

Consonnes géminées are two identical consonants that follow each other in a word.^[8] The adjectival use (lettre consonne, i consonne for ⟨j⟩, u consonne for ⟨v⟩) is old.^[5][3]

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 l 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert