précéder

Forms

précéder^[1] Middle French preceder.^[1][2] The Académie wrote preceder in 1694 and 1718, and précéder from 1740.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praecēdō (“to walk in front, to come before”),^[3][4][5] formed from prae (“before”) and cēdō (“to go, to advance”).^[4][6][2] Picoche places it in the family of céder, with procéder and succéder.^[7] The adjective précédent is recorded earlier, from the 13th century, so Wiktionary suggests the verb may be a back-formation from it.^[1][8]

Cognate with Old Occitan preceder, Catalan preceir and Italian precedere.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1353, in a deed of gift among the charters of Saint-Bertin, meaning “to take place before, to come first logically”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1370 Oresme used it for “to outrank, to take priority over”, as in the 14th-century Ménagier, where a husband's pleasure doit preceder le vostre “must come before yours”.^[3][2] The spatial senses came in the 16th century: Palsgrave (1530) has “to get somewhere before another” and “to be in front of another”, and the sense “to walk in front” is dated 1534.^[3][9]

In 1690 Furetière recorded “to have precedence” in an assembly or a procession.^[3] The absolute use ce qui précède “what comes before” in a text is found from 1730.^[3] The figurative sense “to be ahead of someone” in a field is dated 1485 by the Petit Robert.^[9]

Timeline

• 1353 – First record, “to happen before”.^[3]
• 1370 – Oresme uses it for “to take priority over”.^[3]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records “to arrive before” and “to be in front of”.^[3]
• 1534 – “To walk in front of”.^[9][6]
• 1690 – Furetière records “to have precedence”.^[3]
• 1730 – Du Marsais uses ce qui précède.^[3]
• 1740 – The Académie spells it with accents.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come or happen before in time: l'éclair précède le tonnerre.^[9][3]
2. To come before in a sequence or in space, as in a text: ce qui précède.^[9][3]
3. To be noticed before someone arrives: sa renommée l'avait précédée.^[9]
4. To walk or go in front of: le guide précédait les marcheurs.^[9][3]
5. To get to a place before someone.^[9][3]
6. To be ahead of someone in a field, to forestall them.^[9]
7. (dated) To outrank, to have precedence over.^[2][3]

Word family

• précédent

Related words

• céder
• procéder
• succéder
• antécédent
• Latin praecēdō

Usage notes

The é of the second syllable becomes è before a mute syllable (je précède); Littré still kept é in the future and conditional (je précéderai).^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
4. ^ a b c 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. 9, 279b
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ 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