ministre

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mi.nistʁ/^[1]

Forms

ministre m or f (plural ministres); familiar feminine ministresse “a minister's wife”^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin minister (“servant, attendant; priest; agent”),^{[2][4][5][6][7][1]} formed on minus (“less”) after magister (“master”), with which it contrasts as servant does with master.^[2][4][3][8] In Christian Latin the plural named the servants of God, angels and then the clergy, and in Late Latin the word was used for a dignitary of the royal palace (663) and a public officer (8th–9th centuries).^[2][4] In Old French it was a doublet of ménestrel and ménétrier, from which it was set apart by its political and religious senses.^[4][3]

Compare Romanian ministru, Italian ministro, Spanish ministro and Portuguese ministro.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century) uses it for a person who carries out a task in someone's service.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence (1174–76) uses it both for a royal officer and for a servant of God.^[2] Until the 16th century it was mostly religious; from 1527 (ministre de l'Évangile) it is the term for a Protestant pastor.^[5][2] In politics it meant an adviser to a sovereign (Lemaire de Belges, 1509) and took its modern definition when such advisers held part of the executive power (ministres du Roy, Cotgrave, 1611), with ministre d'État (1671), premier ministre (Voltaire, 1747) and ministre sans portefeuille (1835).^[2][4][9] Bossuet (1683) has it for an envoy to a foreign government, and ministre plénipotentiaire appears in 1834.^[2] With the constitutional monarchy and the parliamentary Republic the ministers came to form a government.^[4] Papier ministre, a large writing paper, is in George Sand (1861).^[2]

Timeline

• First half of the 12th century – “Servant”, Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• 1174–76 – A royal officer; a servant of God.^[2]
• 1509 – Adviser to a sovereign, Lemaire de Belges.^[2]
• 1527 – Ministre de l'Évangile.^[2]
• 1611 – Ministres du Roy, Cotgrave.^[2]
• 1671 – Ministre d'État.^[2]
• 1683 – An envoy, Bossuet.^[2]
• 1747 – Premier ministre, Voltaire.^[4]
• 1835 – Ministre sans portefeuille.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A minister, a member of the government at the head of a ministry: le ministre des Finances, Premier ministre, conseil des ministres.^[3][9]
2. Ministre plénipotentiaire: a diplomatic envoy ranking below an ambassador.^[2][3]
3. A minister of religion; a Protestant pastor.^[3][2]
4. (archaic) A servant, agent; a person who carries out a task.^[3][2]
5. Papier ministre: a large size of writing paper.^[2]

Word family

• ministrable
• ministresse

Related words

• ministère
• ministériel
• ménestrel
• ménétrier

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 115b
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse