marraine

Forms

marraine f (plural marraines)^[2][1] Old French marrene (about 1100), then marraine from the early 13th century, beside marrine.^[3][2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French marrene, inherited from Vulgar Latin *matrina, derived from māter (“mother”) on the model of patrīnus, the source of parrain.^[3][5][6][7] Medieval Latin matrina is recorded in 753.^[3] The suffix was changed from -īna to -āna very early, before the first French texts;^[3][6] the GLLF gives the Vulgar Latin form as *matrana, a variant of that form.^[2] The older form marrine survives in many dialects.^[3][4]

Cognate with Italian madrina, Spanish madrina, Portuguese madrinha and Occitan mairina.^[8][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as marrene in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), of the woman who stands sponsor at the baptism of an adult: or seit fait par marrenes “let it be done with godmothers”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The pair parrain and marraine, which stresses the sponsors' tie with the child, replaced the older compère and commère, which expressed their tie with the parents and with each other.^[3][5]

By analogy the word was applied to the woman who presides over the blessing of a bell (1690, Furetière) and later over the launching of a ship, and to a lady who introduces another into society (1868).^[3][5][2] During the First World War it named a young woman who adopted a soldier at the front and sent him letters and parcels (1915), soon in marraine de guerre (1916).^[3][5][1] The derivative marrainage (1949) is hardly used;^[5] French uses parrainage instead.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Marrene appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[3][5]
• Early 13th century – The spelling marraine appears in Galeran.^[2]
• 13th century – Beaumanoir writes of parrins and marrines.^[4]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “sponsor at the blessing of a bell”.^[3][2]
• 1868 – Used of a lady who introduces another into society.^[5][2]
• 1915 – A marraine for soldiers at the front is mentioned in Le Journal.^[3]
• 1916 – First record of marraine de guerre.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A godmother: a woman who holds a child at the font at its baptism and sponsors its religious upbringing.^[1][2]
2. A woman who sponsors the christening of a bell or the launching of a ship.^[1][2]
3. (dated) A lady who introduces another woman into society.^[2][4]
4. Marraine de guerre: a woman who adopted a soldier during the war, writing to him and sending him parcels.^[1][2]

Related words

• parrain
• mère
• commère
• Latin māter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 500a
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter