donneur

Forms

donneur m (plural donneurs, feminine donneuse)^[1] Old French duneur and doneor, with the nominative donere.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French donner + -eur.^[3][4][5][1] The Old French noun had a nominative donere beside the oblique doneor, as from Latin dōnātor and dōnātōrem.^[2] The learned donateur is a borrowing of the Latin word.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century), meaning “one who gives”: Establis, sire, duneur de lei sur els, “Lord, set a giver of law over them”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

From “one who gives” it came to mean a person in the habit of giving (about 1265, Jean de Meun), as in li fol large donneor of the Roman de la Rose.^[6][2] Phrases such as donneur de bons jours named people too free with greetings and promises; one 16th-century writer uses it of a quack.^[2][6]

Card players called the one who deals le donneur (1870).^[7] Medicine gave donneur de sang “blood donor”, and since 1968 the word has also named the donor of tissue or an organ.^[7][6] In modern slang (1901) a donneur is an informer who gives people away to the police, the feminine donneuse being even more contemptuous.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Duneur appears in the Oxford Psalter.^[3][6]
• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun uses it of a habitual giver.^[6]
• 1870 – It names the dealer at cards.^[7]
• 1901 – Bruant records the slang sense “informer”.^[3][5]
• 1968 – It is used of an organ or tissue donor.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who gives something: donneur de conseils.^[7][6]
2. (commerce) Donneur d'ordre: the party who places an order.^[7]
3. (card games) The dealer.^[7][1]
4. A donor of blood, tissue or an organ: donneur de sang, donneur universel.^[7][6]
5. (familiar) An informer who denounces someone to the police.^[7][3]
6. (chemistry, physics) An atom or group that gives up electrons.^[8]

Related words

• donateur
• donation
• don
• donner
• donne
• donnée

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)