Etymologically
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mot

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Pronunciation

Forms

mot m (plural mots)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mot, inherited from Late Latin muttum (“sound, grunt”), a back-formation from muttiō (“to mutter, say mu”), built on an onomatopoeia “mu” for a sound made with the lips barely open.[2][3][4][5][1] Apuleius has the phrase “mutmut facere” “to make a barely audible sound”.[2][3] The Grand Robert gives a popular Latin form “*mottum”.[6] The same onomatopoeia is behind muet.[3][7]

In Late Latin “muttum” was used in negative sentences, “not a sound”, and so were the first French examples (“ne soner mot”, “ne tinter mot”); only afterwards did the word come to mean “speech, word”.[2][4] Cognate with Italian motto, Occitan mot and Catalan mot, Bloch and Wartburg think Italian “motto” and Spanish “mote” came from Gallo-Romance.[7][4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

At the end of the 10th century the Passion of Clermont has Jesus li bons mot no'l soned “the good Jesus said not a word”, the phrase ne soner mot “to say nothing”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From about 1100 it meant speech, what one says (Si lur ad dit un mot curteisement), and n'en savoir mot “to know nothing of it”.[2][3] In hunting it named a blast on the horn (about 1180), keeping a trace of the sound it once meant.[3][2] Mot à mot dates from about 1170, bon mot from 1205–50 and the plural des mots “idle talk” from the late 14th century.[2]

The sense “word, unit of language” is attested by the late 12th century but long remained secondary to verbe, which had religious weight; it became dominant in classical lexicography.[3] Mot du guet (1530) gave mot de passe (1828–29); prendre au mot (1549) recalls the sense “price offered” in Pathelin (1464); un mot for a short note dates from 1578.[2][3][9] Mots croisés (1929) follows English crossword.[2] English borrowed mot, “a witty saying”, in 1813.[10]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Ne soner mot in the Passion of Clermont.[2]
  • c. 1100 – Un mot, a speech, in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1170 – Mot à mot in Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • c. 1180 – A blast on the hunting horn.[2]
  • 1464 – The price asked, in the Farce de Maître Pathelin.[2]
  • 1530 – Mot du guet, a password.[2]
  • 1578 – Un mot, a short letter.[9]
  • 1828–1829 – Mot de passe in Vidocq.[2]
  • 1929 – Mots croisés.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A word: a unit of language: un mot de trois syllabes.[7][11]
  2. A few words, something said or written: dire un mot à quelqu'un, ne pas dire un mot.[11][7]
  3. A short note, message: laisser un mot.[1][9]
  4. A saying, a witty remark: un bon mot, mot d'esprit.[2][1]
  5. The answer to a riddle: le mot de l'énigme.[1][2]
  6. Mot de passe: a password.[2][1]
  7. Mots croisés: a crossword.[2]

Word family

  • demi-mot
  • motus
  • motet
  • muet
  • English mot

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 303b
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)