douer

Forms

douer^[1] Old French doer; the spelling douer is found from the 13th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French doer, inherited from Latin dōtō (“to endow, provide with a dowry”),^[4][5][2][6] from dōs (“dowry”).^[7][2] Rey notes that it came down by word of mouth and that the Latin verb, properly “to give a dowry”, was already used figuratively.^[2] It is the popular doublet of the learned doter.^[3][1][2]

Cognate with Italian dotare, Occitan dotar and Spanish dotar.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded at the end of the 12th century in Raoul de Cambrai, meaning “to provide (a wife) with a dower”: De Ribemont iert ma feme doée “she will be my wife, dowered with Ribemont”.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century the verb meant to settle a dower on a wife, a sense Molière still used in 1662; it shared it with the prefixed endouer and finally lost it to doter.^[2][3] The figurative sense “to bestow a gift or quality on someone” is found about 1210 and survived.^[4][2]

Today the verb is mostly used in its past participle doué (1262), an adjective meaning “naturally gifted”.^[2][4] This gave surdoué (Léon Daudet, 1932; common from 1969), used of gifted children, and the joking sous-doué for someone not very bright.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Raoul de Cambrai uses doer for providing a wife with a dower.^[4]
• c. 1210 – The Dolopathos uses it for endowing someone with a good or a quality.^[4][2]
• 1262 – First record of the past participle as an adjective, in Jean le Marchand's Miracles de Notre-Dame de Chartres.^[4][2]
• 1662 – Molière still uses it in the sense “provide with a dower”.^[2]
• 1932 – Léon Daudet uses surdoué.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, law) To settle a dower on (a wife).^[4][7][3]
2. To endow someone with a quality or advantage, said of God, nature or fate: La nature l'a doué d'une grande mémoire.^[9][10][11]

Word family

• doué
• surdoué

Related words

• doter
• dot
• douaire
• Latin dōtō

Usage notes

The verb is now chiefly used in the participle doué; in Quebec the derivative douance means giftedness, the above-average aptitudes of a pupil.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 148b
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)