parrain

Forms

parrain m (plural parrains, feminine marraine)^[1] Old French parain (about 1112), parin (early 13th century) and parrin; the forms with -in were the commoner ones in Old French.^[2][3][4] Furetière still wrote parrein in 1690.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French parain, inherited from Medieval Latin patrīnus (“godfather”), a word of Christian usage recorded from the 8th century.^[2][3][5] The TLFi and Rey derive it from Latin patruus (“paternal uncle”), itself from pater (“father”);^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and Littré derive it straight from pater.^[6][4][7] The ending -ain replaced the older -in under the influence of marraine, from the 14th century, and won out in the 16th.^[6][2][4]

The suffix -in survives in many dialects and in Italian padrino, Spanish padrino, Catalan padrí and Portuguese padrinho; in Old Venetian the word also means “confessor”, and in Provençal and Aragonese it partly means “grandfather”.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record, parain in the Voyage de saint Brendan (about 1112), already means the man who holds a child at the font and then sees to its religious upbringing.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

As marraine drove out commère, parrain took the place of compère in the sense “godfather”.^[2][3] By analogy with christening, it named the man who presides at the blessing of a bell (1690) and anyone who gives a name to a work or a thing (before 1615, Pasquier).^[2][3] It later meant the knight who presented a novice for admission to an order (1740), one of the two academicians who accompany a newly elected member of the Académie française (1866) and the sponsor of a newcomer in a club or learned society (1867).^[2][3]

In slang it was a duellist's second (1790), a witness in court (Vidocq, 1836) and even a lawyer in prison speech (1846); these senses gave way to “head of a large criminal gang, a Mafia godfather”, widespread from about 1970.^[3][9]

Timeline

• c. 1112 – Parain appears in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2][4]
• c. 1155 – The spelling parrain is found in Wace.^[4][10]
• 14th century – The ending -ain is remade after marraine.^[6]
• before 1615 – Pasquier uses it for one who gives a name to a thing.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the godfather of a bell.^[2][10]
• 1740 – The Académie records the knight who presents a novice.^[2]
• c. 1970 – The sense “Mafia boss” becomes common.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A godfather, the man who presents a child for baptism and answers for its faith.^[11][2]
2. The man who presides at the launching of a ship or the blessing of a bell, and anyone who gives a name to a person or thing.^[11][1]
3. A sponsor who introduces someone into a club or society.^[11][2]
4. The head of a criminal gang, a Mafia godfather.^[11][3][1]

Word family

• parrainer
• parrainage
• coparrainage

Related words

• père
• filleul
• filleule
• compère
• marraine
• Latin pater

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 l m n o 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 i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 22b
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert