controuver

Forms

controuver^[1] Old French controver, with the Anglo-Norman spellings contrever, controever and cuntruver.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French controver, probably formed from Old French con- + trover, on the same stem as trouver.^{[2][4][5][1][6]} The FEW files it under the etymon Vulgar Latin *tropō, the source of that verb.^[7][3] The TLFi and the Grand Robert compare Late Latin contropō, recorded in the 6th century in the sense “to compare”;^[2][5] Rey gives that Late Latin verb as a possible direct source,^[4] and Bloch and Wartburg treat the two as the same word, of uncertain origin.^[8] The TLFi rejects an older explanation of the Late Latin verb as a Latinised Gothic verb meaning “to gather”.^[2]

Cognate with Italian controvare (“to imagine”).^[9][8] The Old French verb is also the source of the English word contrive, first found in the early 14th century.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century, in the Vie de saint Léger, in the sense “to decide, agree on something”, a use the TLFi calls isolated.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From 1119, in Philippe de Thaon's Comput, the verb meant “to imagine, invent”, and by about 1175 the Roman de Renart has controver mançonge “to make up a lie”.^[2] The sense of lying invention grew out of the neutral one and finally replaced it.^[2][4] The Middle French dictionary still records neutral uses, as of inventing parables, in the late 14th century.^[7] Cotgrave in 1611 glosses it as “to feign, forge, devise”.^[11]

Since the 17th century the verb has been rare except in the past participle controuvé, said of facts that are false or alleged in order to deceive; in the passive it also came to mean “shown to be invented, disproved”.^[2][4] Its link with trouver is no longer felt.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 980 – First recorded, in the Vie de saint Léger, meaning “to decide, agree on”.^[2][4]
• 1119 – Philippe de Thaon uses it for “to imagine, invent”.^[2]
• c. 1175 – The Roman de Renart has controver mançonge “to make up a lie”.^[2]
• Early 14th century – English borrows the Old French verb as contrive.^[10]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it as “to feign, devise”.^[2][11]
• 17th century – The verb becomes rare outside the participle controuvé.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To invent or fabricate facts that are untrue, often with the intent to harm: il a controuvé toute cette histoire.^[2][9][1]
2. (rare, passive) To prove to be invented, to be refuted.^[2]

Related words

• trouver
• English contrive

Usage notes

The verb is now mostly found in the past participle controuvé “invented, false”: un témoignage controuvé.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 318b
7. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip