Etymologically
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gazette

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 18:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡa.zɛt/[1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [ɡazɛt][1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [ɡazet][1]

Forms

gazette f (plural gazettes)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian gazzetta (“news sheet”) (before 1580),[2][3][4][1][5] from the name of the Venetian news sheet Gazeta de le novità, which cost a gazeta, a small coin struck at Venice from 1539 and worth about three liards.[2][3][4][6] D'Aubigné uses “gazette” for the coin itself.[2][7]

The origin of the Venetian coin name is disputed.[2][3] It may be a derivative of Latin gaza (“treasure”), from Ancient Greek γάζα (gáza, “the Persian king's treasure”), a word of Iranian origin;[2][3][8] or a diminutive of Venetian gaza (“magpie”), of the same origin as geai, as Bloch and Wartburg prefer and the TLFi thinks less likely.[4][2][8] Rey adds that Middle French gaser (“to chatter”) (modern jaser) must have helped the borrowing, a gazette being thought of as a chatterer.[3][8] Littré also cites, and rejects, an Indo-Persian word for “paper” proposed by Garcin de Tassy.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Agrippa d'Aubigné, late in the 16th century, writes of what nous dit la gazette, a periodical paper of news; in another passage he uses it for the Venetian coin worth three liards.[7][6][3]

Semantic evolution

La Gazette was the title of a satirical poem in 1609, and Cotgrave (1611) defines a gazette as a news sheet[2][9]; Théophraste Renaudot's Gazette of 1631 made it the name of a newspaper.[2][9] From the late 16th century the word is also used of a talkative person who spreads news, and before 1654 of a detailed account of small news.[3][6]

Gazette has since given way to journal and survives mainly in newspaper titles, jokingly, or regionally; in Belgium it is a daily paper.[4][9][10] The derivative gazetier (1633) has gone out of use.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1539 – The Venetian coin gazeta is first struck.[2][3]
  • before 1580 – Italian gazzetta “news sheet”.[2]
  • 1609 – La Gazette, title of a satirical poem.[2]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave defines it as a news sheet.[2]
  • 1631 – Renaudot's Gazette.[9]
  • 1633 – Gazetier.[4][3]
  • before 1654 – A detailed account of small news (Guez de Balzac).[6][3]
  • 1694 – First recorded by the Académie.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated, regional or humorous) A periodical newspaper; a gazette.[9][10]
  2. (Belgium) A daily paper.[10]
  3. (dated) A person who spreads gossip: la gazette du quartier.[9][10]

Word family

  • gazetier

Usage notes

Littré has a second gazette, a porcelain makers' term, an alteration of casette, the clay case in which pieces are fired.[7][11] Gazette is spelled with two t, gazetier with one.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 22a
  6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 451b