Etymologically
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paraître

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pa.ʁɛtʁ/[1]

Forms

paraître[1] Old French pareistre, then paroistre until the 17th century.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pareistre, inherited from Late Latin pārēscō (“to appear”), a rare Late Latin word (5th–8th centuries), the inchoative of pāreō (“to appear; to obey”).[4][2][5][6][1] In classical Latin “pārēre” was little used except in the impersonal “pāret” “it is clear” and in the sense “to obey”, “to appear” belonged to spoken Latin, and the Romance languages kept that sense while leaving obedience to the descendants of “oboedīre” (see obéir).[2] The origin of the Latin verb is unknown.[2][7]

In the 16th century “paraître” drove out Old French paroir, the direct outcome of “pārēre”, which survives in legal “il appert”.[2][5][8]

Cognate with Occitan pareisser, Catalan parèixer, Spanish parecer and Portuguese parecer.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century in the Passion of Clermont, of the risen Christ: al terz di vius pareistra “on the third day he will appear alive”.[4]

Semantic evolution

“To become visible, come into view” is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165).[4] Of a person paraître meant “to show oneself” (Corneille, 1636), “to stand out, shine” (Brantôme, 1583–1590) and, absolutely, “to show off” (d'Aubigné, 1617), whence the noun le paraître “appearances”.[4][1] Paraître before a court (Molière, 1666) is now comparaître.[4]

Of books and newspapers it means “to be published” (1677), whence faire paraître.[7] With an attribute it means “to seem” (late 12th century), and impersonally il paraît que “it seems, they say” (1636).[7]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Pareistra in the Passion of Clermont.[4]
  • c. 1165 – “To come into view”, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[4]
  • 1583–1590 – Se paroistre and “to stand out”, in Brantôme.[4]
  • 16th century – Paraître replaces paroir.[2]
  • 1636 – Paraissez, Navarrais in Corneille's Cid.[4]
  • 1666 – “To appear in court”, in Molière.[4]
  • 1677 – Of a book, “to be published”.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To appear, come into view; to show oneself: le jour paraît.[7][4]
  2. To be published: ce livre vient de paraître.[7]
  3. To seem, look: il paraît satisfait.[7]
  4. Il paraît que: it seems that, people say that.[7]
  5. To show off, make a display: aimer paraître.[4]

Noun

  1. Le paraître: appearances, outward show.[1]

Word family

  • parution
  • reparaître

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 645b
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette