imprécation

Forms

imprécation f (plural imprécations)^[1] Middle French imprecacion; the modern spelling dates from the 16th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin imprecātiō (“curse”), which had the sense “curse” from the 1st century.^[4][3][5] The Latin noun is derived from imprecor (“to call down (good or evil) on someone”), formed from in- and precor (“to pray”),^[3][6][2] itself from prex (“prayer”), the family of prier.^[3] In Late Latin the noun also meant “blessing”, the source of a separate Middle French imprecacion “calling God's blessing on oneself”, found in 1374 in Jean Golein.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pierre Bersuire's translation of Livy, about 1355, uses imprecacion for a solemn prayer by which a guilty person or an enemy was devoted to the gods of the underworld: une loy de horrible imprecacion.^[4][6][2]

Semantic evolution

Its positive Middle French sense of calling down a blessing died out, while the sense of cursing survived, at first in talk of antiquity.^[3] By analogy, from 1564 (Thierry's dictionary) it means a wish for misfortune on someone.^[4][3][2] In literary history it is used of the curses spoken by a character in a tragedy, as in the imprécations de Camille in Corneille's Horace^[7] (in this use from 1680,^[3] or from Racine in 1669 for the GLLF^[2]). Littré also gives it as a term of rhetoric for the figure of wishing ill on a person.^[6]

The derivatives are imprécatoire (late 16th century) and the very rare imprécateur (1664).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1355 – Bersuire's Livy has imprecacion for a curse calling on the gods of the underworld.^[4][3]
• 1374 – Jean Golein uses imprecacion for calling down a blessing.^[4][3]
• 1564 – Thierry records the sense “wish for misfortune on someone”.^[4][2]
• 1664 – Imprécateur is recorded.^[3]
• 1680 – Used of the curses of a character in tragedy.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) A curse, a wish for misfortune uttered against someone: lancer des imprécations contre son rival.^[7][4][6]
2. (antiquity) A solemn prayer devoting an enemy or a guilty person to the gods of the underworld.^[4][2]
3. (rhetoric) The figure of speech in which one wishes ill on the person spoken of or to.^[6]

Word family

• imprécatoire
• imprécateur

Related words

• prier
• Latin imprecor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert