prévôt

Forms

prévôt m (plural prévôts)^[1] Old French prevost and provost, the latter usual in the Middle Ages and still found in the 17th century;^[2][3] the spelling prévôt is in Monet (1636).^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French prevost, inherited from Latin praepositus (“chief, officer”),^[2][5][3][6] the noun use of the past participle of praepōnō (“to place in front, put in charge”), from prae- (“before”) and pōnō (“to put, place”).^[2] Late Latin used it for a church leader (early 3rd century), the head of a community of monks or clerks (early 5th century) and an officer with judicial duties (501–523); Medieval Latin added “public officer” (801), “town magistrate” (1114) and “dean of a merchant guild” (about 1050).^[2][3]

The word is only Gallo-Romance: Italian prevosto and Spanish preboste come from it.^[6][3] A Late Latin variant prōpositus gave Old French provost and Old Occitan probost,^[2][6][3] which are the source of German Propst and of the English word provost,^[6][3] the latter also from Old English profost.^[7] German Profoss comes from French.^[6] Littré notes that the Old French form is regularly developed, with the stress on the syllable ⟨po⟩ of the Latin word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

First recorded as prevost about 1135, in the Couronnement de Louis, for various civil or judicial officers.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages and under the Ancien Régime the word named magistrates, officers with a jurisdiction, and church dignitaries.^[3][6] It formed titles such as prévôt de Paris (about 1260), prévôt des marchands (1350), the head of the town administration of Paris, and prévôt des maréchaux (1461), the officer in charge of the mounted constabulary.^[2][3] In the church, prevoz de la salle (1288) was the head of a church school, and prévôt (1300) the head of the chapter of a collegiate church.^[2][3]

In fencing prévôt de salle (1616–1620) is the assistant master of a fencing hall.^[2][3] In the army it named the officer judging crimes committed by soldiers (1666), and in prison slang (1828) an inmate acting as an assistant warder or head of a cell, a use still known in the mid-20th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1135 – Prevost in the Couronnement de Louis.^[2][3]
• c. 1260 – Prevost de Paris in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[2]
• 1288 – Prevoz de la salle, head of a church school.^[2]
• 1300 – Head of the chapter of a collegiate church.^[2]
• 1350 – Prevost des marchans in a royal ordinance.^[2][3]
• 1461 – Prevost des mareschaulx in Villon's Testament.^[2]
• 1514 – The adjective prévôtal appears.^[6][3]
• 1616–1620 – Agrippa d'Aubigné uses prevost de sale in fencing.^[2]
• 1666 – The military provost.^[2][3]
• 1828 – The prison sense, in Esnault's dating.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) Any of various royal or seigneurial officers and magistrates with civil or judicial duties: prévôt des marchands, head of the municipal government of Paris.^[9][2]
2. (military) A provost, an officer of the gendarmerie with jurisdiction over an army abroad.^[9]
3. Prévôt d'armes, prévôt de salle: an assistant fencing master.^[9][2]
4. (religion) The superior of certain religious orders or of a collegiate chapter.^[9][2]
5. An inmate chosen to act as a warder in a prison.^[9][3]

Word family

• prévôté
• prévôtal

Related words

• préposé
• préposer
• Latin praepositus
• English provost

References

1. ^ a b 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 v 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 l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 302a
6. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert