interrogatif

Forms

interrogatif (feminine interrogative, masculine plural interrogatifs, feminine plural interrogatives)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin interrogātīvus (“expressing a question”), a grammatical term of Late Latin.^[2][3][4] The Latin adjective is recorded from Pomponius Porphyrio (2nd–3rd century) and is formed on interrogātum, the supine of interrogō (“to ask, question”).^[2][5][6] The grammatical sense “serving to ask a question” is the borrowed one; the everyday sense “expressing a question” is an extension that arose in French.^[2]

Cognate with Occitan enterrogatiu, Spanish interrogativo and Italian interrogativo.^[7] It belongs with interroger, interrogation and interrogatoire.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in a French Donatus grammar of the early 15th century, is grammatical: interogatif is one of six kinds of adjective, with combien “how much” as the example.^[2] The TLFi had dated the word to 1499 (Lagadeuc's Catholicon), a record the TLF-Étym also reads in the grammatical sense.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a grammar term through the 15th–17th centuries (1499, Meigret in 1550, Lancelot's grammar in 1660); Furetière's dictionary recorded it in 1690.^[2] Point interrogatif (1550) competed with point d'interrogation for the question mark until the 19th century.^[8][3] As a noun it also meant an interrogatoire “questioning” (1507).^[8][5][6]

The sense “expressing a question”, said of a tone, a look or a voice, has an isolated, unclear record in 1514 and is regular from Rousseau's Nouvelle Héloïse (1761);^[2] earlier dictionaries dated it to 1529 (Bonivard)^[6][8] or, for the look and air, to Balzac (1834).^[6]

Timeline

• Early 15th century – Interogatif appears as a grammar term in a French Donatus.^[2]
• 1499 – Recorded in Lagadeuc's Catholicon.^[3][2]
• 1507 – Used as a noun meaning “questioning, interrogation”.^[5][6][8]
• 1550 – Meigret writes of the point interrogatif, the question mark.^[3][8]
• 1690 – First dictionary record, in Furetière.^[2]
• 1761 – Rousseau uses it of a questioning tone of voice.^[2]
• 1782 – First record of the adverb interrogativement.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Expressing or showing a question: un coup d'œil interrogatif.^[9][3]
2. (grammar) Used to ask a question, interrogative: pronoms interrogatifs, adverbes interrogatifs.^[9][7]

Noun

1. (grammar, masculine) An interrogative word, such as quel or pourquoi.^[9][10]
2. (grammar, feminine) An interrogative clause, direct or indirect.^[9]

Word family

• interrogativement

Related words

• interrogateur
• interrogation
• interrogatoire
• interroger
• Latin interrogō

Usage notes

Point interrogatif was long a rival of point d'interrogation for the question mark and has gone out of use.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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
4. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)