contempler

Forms

contempler^[1] Anglo-Norman also contemplir.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin contemplor (“to look at attentively; to consider in the mind”), also found in the active form contemplō.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The Latin verb was first a term of augury, formed from con- and templum (“space marked out in the sky and on the ground by an augur”), the source of temple; it then passed into ordinary use.^[4][6] Rey notes that it went through the same development as cōnsīderō, the source of considérer.^[4]

Compare Old Occitan contemplar, Spanish contemplar and Italian contemplare.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 13th century in Jean de Meun's Testament, meaning “to look at while absorbed in the sight”: the angels sans cesser le contemplent et loent et esgardent “ceaselessly contemplate him [their Creator], praise him and look upon him”.^[3] Anglo-Norman has it from the second quarter of the 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By extension it came to mean “to consider in the mind”, as in the Mystère du Viel Testament (about 1450): Quant je contemple mon cas et ma meschante vie “when I consider my case and my wretched life”.^[3][4] Contempler and considérer, nearly synonyms in Latin, drew apart in French: contempler is mostly used of absorbed looking, and in the abstract sense it implies a meditation that considérer lacks.^[4] The related nouns keep a mystical colouring inherited from Christian Latin, as in contemplation (about 1174) and contemplatif (12th century).^[4][5]

Timeline

• Second quarter of the 13th century – Earliest Anglo-Norman record.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Jean de Meun uses it of absorbed looking.^[3]
• c. 1450 – “To consider in the mind”, in the Mystère du Viel Testament.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look at attentively, be absorbed in the sight of: contempler un tableau.^[9][8]
2. To gaze at with admiration or love: contempler la mer.^[9][8]
3. To consider in the mind, meditate on: contempler les choses divines.^[8][4]
4. Se contempler: to look at oneself at length: se contempler dans un miroir; also, to gaze at each other.^[9][8]

Word family

• contemplable

Related words

• contemplateur
• contemplatif
• contemplation
• temple
• considérer
• Latin contemplor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1102a
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert