engendrer

Forms

engendrer^[1] Old French engendrer, also engenrer and engendrier.^[2] Anglo-Norman also angendrer.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French engendrer, inherited from Latin ingenerō (“to implant, create, beget”), formed with in- on generō (“to beget, produce”), from genus (“birth, race, kind”).^[4][5][6][7] A transitional /d/ was inserted between /n/ and /r/ from the beginning.^[4][8] Bloch and Wartburg note that the verb is found only in Gallo-Romance and Catalan.^[9]

Cognate with Old Occitan engenrar and Catalan engendrar;^[9] Littré also lists Spanish engendrar and Italian ingenerare.^[2] Old French also had engeindre, with its own source in Latin ingignō.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Couronnement de Louis (1135), meaning to beget a child.^[4][5] Littré quotes Mar fustes engendrez from the 12th-century Roncevaux.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the early 13th century the verb was used abstractly for “to invent” and for “to bring about, give rise to”; the latter sense gave the phrase ne pas engendrer la mélancolie (Molière, 1666).^[5][6] In theology the Father begets the Son.^[10][2]

In the 18th century it entered geometry, for a line or figure that describes another by moving (1752, Trévoux).^[4][5] Around 1968 it translated English to generate in linguistics, beside the anglicism générer.^[5] The English verb engender was borrowed from the Old French word in the early 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 1135 – First record in the Couronnement de Louis.^[4]
• early 13th century – Figurative use in the Renclus de Molliens.^[4][5]
• early 14th century – English borrows it as engendren.^[8]
• 1666 – Molière has ne pas engendrer la mélancolie.^[5][6]
• 1752 – Trévoux records the sense in geometry.^[4]
• c. 1968 – It renders English generate in linguistics.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beget, procreate a child, said of a man or of the parents.^[10][2]
2. (theology) Of God the Father: to beget the Son.^[10][2]
3. (figurative) To give rise to, cause, produce.^[10][6]
4. (geometry) To describe a figure by moving.^[4]

Word family

• engendrement

Related words

• génération
• genre
• générer
• Latin ingenerō
• English engender

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a second, separate verb engendrer “to provide with a son-in-law, take as son-in-law”, formed in the 13th century from en- and gendre, now archaic or jocular;^[11][2] Molière uses it in L'Étourdi.^[11][2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
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. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 684b
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert