instruire

Forms

instruire^[1] Old French enstruire (12th century); the form instruire from the late 14th century, with the participle instruit from 1346.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnstruō (“to build in, equip, teach”), first taken in the Frenchified form enstruire and remade with a Latinised prefix from 1346.^[2][5][4][6] Its ending follows construire and détruire, unlike verbs such as instituer.^[2][6] Old French also had estruire (“to build”) (about 1175), which kept the older Latin senses, while the borrowed verb took the sense “to teach”, which arose in Latin under the Empire.^[2][5] Wiktionary instead treats the verb as inherited through the Old French forms, with the prefix relatinised.^[1]

The Latin verb is formed from in- and struō (“to lay in layers, arrange, build”),^[5][4][3] whose base Rey links, perhaps, to Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“to spread”).^[5] Compare Spanish instruir and Italian istruire.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as enstruire in the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century), meaning to form someone's mind by precepts and lessons.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

About 1200 instruire quelqu'un de quelque chose meant to make someone acquainted with a fact or piece of knowledge.^[2][5] From the late 14th century a thing could be the subject, in the sense “to teach a lesson”, as in Eustache Deschamps.^[2][5] The participle bien or mal instruit meant “well” or “badly brought up” in 1346; since the 18th century instruit has meant “learned”.^[5][2] The pronominal s'instruire is found in Montaigne (1592).^[2][7]

In the 16th century it entered law: Robert Estienne records instruire un procès in 1549, to prepare a case for judgement.^[2][5] The sense “to give instructions to” (1672, Boileau) has gone out of use, and Bossuet used it in 1677 for training an animal.^[5][2] Bloch and Wartburg see the legal sense as a French development.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Enstruire appears in the Oxford Psalter.^[3][4]
• c. 1200 – Instruire quelqu'un de quelque chose is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1346 – The participle instruit appears, with the prefix in-.^[2][5]
• 1375 – Recorded in Anglo-Norman.^[8]
• late 14th century – Deschamps uses it with a thing as subject.^[2]
• 1549 – Estienne records instruire un procès.^[2][5]
• 1592 – Montaigne uses s'instruire.^[2]
• 1672 – Boileau uses it for giving instructions.^[2][5]
• 1677 – Bossuet uses it for training an animal.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To give someone new knowledge, to enlighten: les voyages l'ont instruit.^[9][2]
2. To teach, to educate a pupil; to train soldiers in the use of arms.^[9][10][1]
3. Instruire quelqu'un de quelque chose: to inform someone of something.^[9][2]
4. (law) To prepare a case for judgement: instruire un procès.^[2][1]
5. S'instruire: to educate oneself, to learn.^[2][10]

Word family

• instructif

Related words

• instructeur
• instruction
• instruit
• construire
• détruire
• Latin īnstruō

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 n o p q r s t u v 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)