douter

Pronunciation

• IPA: /du.te/^[1]

Forms

douter^[1] Old French duter, doter, douter from the 12th century; also doubter in Middle French.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dubitō (“to hesitate, waver, doubt; in Late Latin, to fear”), from dubius (“wavering, undecided”), from duo (“two”).^{[4][5][6][3][7]}

Cognate with Spanish dudar, Portuguese duvidar, Catalan dubtar and Old Occitan doptar, which also meant “to fear”.^[6][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it means “to fear”: the Saracens nes ont mie dutez.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

“To fear” was the main sense in Old French and still dominant in the 16th century (Bloch and Wartburg have it until 1613); it then gave way to redouter, though it survived in central dialects and in Lorraine.^[5][6] The modern sense, to be uncertain about something, appears in Wace (1130–40).^[4][5]

Se douter de “to suspect” is from the early 14th century, and the absolute douter, of the sceptic, from Montaigne (1580).^[4][5] The noun doute followed the same path, from “fear” to “uncertainty”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – “To fear”, Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• 1130–40 – “To be uncertain”, Wace.^[4]
• early 14th century – Se douter de.^[4]
• 1580 – Absolute douter, Montaigne.^[4]
• 1613 – Last recorded use in the sense “to fear”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To doubt: douter de qqch., j'en doute, je doute qu'il vienne, à n'en pas douter, undoubtedly.^[10][1]
2. To have no confidence in: douter de qqn, ne douter de rien, to be very sure of oneself.^[10][1]
3. Se douter de: to suspect: je m'en doutais.^[1][4]

Word family

• doute
• douteux
• redouter
• indubitable

Related words

• deux
• dubitatif
• Latin dubitō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 169a
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert