doctorat

Forms

doctorat m (plural doctorats)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin doctōrātus, recorded in 1311,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} derived from doctor (“teacher”), the source of docteur.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1562 in Geneva, in François Bonivard's Advis et devis, where doctors of law who are not content with la gloire du tiltre de doctorat (“the glory of the title of doctorate”) also want to be knights.^[7][3][8] The TLFi's first record is in Belleforest's Cosmographie universelle (1575).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense of a university degree, and unlike docteur, it did not become tied to medicine: the doctorate in letters or in sciences is as usual as the doctorate in medicine.^[3] By extension it also names the examinations leading to the degree, as in passer son doctorat.^[8][9] The noun doctorant, a student working towards a doctorate, appeared in the French of Belgium and Switzerland and then spread to France.^[3]

Timeline

• 1311 – Medieval Latin doctoratus is recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 1562 – Bonivard uses it in Geneva.^[7][3]
• 1575 – Belleforest uses it in his Cosmographie universelle.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The highest university degree, the doctorate, obtained after defending a thèse: un doctorat de chimie.^[2][8][5]
2. The examinations leading to that degree: passer son doctorat.^[8][9]

Related words

• docteur
• doctorant
• doctoral
• Medieval Latin doctōrātus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 112a
7. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette