participer

Forms

participer^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin participō (“to make someone share; to share out; to have a share”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Middle French also took over the first Latin sense, “to let someone share” (1355), and the second in the participle participé (“shared out”), recorded in 1552.^[3] The Latin verb comes from particeps (“sharing in”), from pars (“part”) and capiō (“to take”).^[3][5] Wiktionary treats the word as inherited from Middle French, where it had already been taken from Latin.^[1]

Compare Occitan participar, Spanish participar and Italian participare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 13th century as a term of philosophy, participer a “to have features in common with”, in a French version of Ramon Lull: ame d'ome participe a toutes creatures “man's soul shares in all creatures”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In this philosophical sense Oresme constructed the verb with en (1370), and, from the 16th century it took de, the source of the modern didactic participer de “to partake of the nature of”;^[2][3] a 15th-century drinking song by Olivier Basselin describes a nose whose colour participe du rouge et du violet.^[2][7]

Also from the 13th century the verb, with a person as subject, meant “to have a share in”, at first with de (sharing in the body and blood of the Lord) and, from 1337 with à.^[2][3] The sense “to take an active part in” is recorded about 1360 in Froissart.^[8] The present participle participant became an adjective and a noun.^[3] participation is older (about 1170), from Late Latin participātiō.^[4][3]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The philosophical sense, in Ramon Lull.^[2]
• 13th century – Participer de “to have a share in”, in the Vie de saint Laurent.^[2]
• 1337 – Participer à.^[2][4]
• 1355 – The transitive sense “to let someone share”.^[3]
• c. 1360 – “To take an active part”, in Froissart.^[8]
• 1370 – Participer en, in Oresme.^[2]
• 16th century – Participer de “to partake of”, in Basselin.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. Participer à: to take part in, participate in: participer à une réunion, participer à un concours.^[9][2]
2. Participer à: to have a share in; to share someone's feelings: participer à la peine d'une amie.^[9][7]
3. Participer à: to contribute, especially money: participer aux frais.^[1][8]
4. (literary) Participer de: to have some of the nature of, to partake of.^[9][1][7]

Word family

• participant

Related words

• participation
• participe
• part
• Latin participō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 676a
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert