prêcheur

Forms

prêcheur m (plural prêcheurs, feminine prêcheuse)^[1] Old French proicheor (late 12th century) and preescheor (1176–1181).^[2][3] The nominative preeschierres is found in the Roman de la Rose.^[4] Middle French prescheur (before 1453, Monstrelet); the spelling prêcheur dates from the 17th century.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French preescheor, inherited from Late Latin praedicātor (“one who preaches the gospel”), an ecclesiastical Late Latin word found from Tertullian on.^[2][3] In classical Latin it meant a public crier or herald and a eulogist, and it was formed on the supine of praedicō (“to proclaim”), the source of prêcher.^[2][3] The TLFi calls it a gallicized form of the Latin noun, and Rey prefers to see it as the outcome of the Latin word rather than a derivative of an old form of the verb.^[2][3]

Littré explains the Old French nominative preechiere from the Latin nominative, stressed on the syllable ⟨ca⟩, and the oblique preechor from the accusative.^[4] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert, the GLLF and the Petit Robert treat it instead as a derivative of that verb.^[7][6][5][8]

Littré compares Walloon précheu, Picard précheux, Occitan predicaire, Spanish predicador, Portuguese pregador and Italian predicatore.^[4] The learned doublet is prédicateur.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier au lion (1176–1181) has preescheor for one who teaches and exhorts.^[2][3] A late 12th-century translation of Gregory's sermons on Ezekiel has proicheor for a preacher.^[2]

Semantic evolution

For one who gives sermons the word was supplanted by its learned doublet prédicateur, and it now survives mostly for someone who likes to lecture and exhort others.^[3] Littré noted in 1873 that in the sense of a preacher it was used only ironically.^[4]

From 1247–1248 the Dominicans, an order devoted to preaching, were called frères prêcheurs.^[2][3] From 1279 they were also called simply prêcheurs.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg date the modern sense of a moralizer to La Fontaine (1668).^[7][5] The adjective took the disparaging sense of “sententious, pontificating” somewhat later, before 1761.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1176–1181 – Preescheor appears in Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier au lion.^[2][3]
• Late 12th century – Proicheor is used for a preacher in the sermons of Gregory on Ezekiel.^[2]
• 1247–1248 – The Dominicans are called freres preecheeurs.^[2][3]
• 1279 – Prêcheurs is used alone as a noun for the Dominicans.^[2][3]
• Before 1453 – Monstrelet writes prescheur.^[5][4]
• 1668 – La Fontaine uses it for a person who likes to moralize.^[7][5]
• Before 1761 – The adjective is used for a moralizing, sententious person.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A preacher.^[8][9][2]
2. (dated) A person who likes to moralize to others: Sa tante était une vraie prêcheuse.^[8][9][5]

Adjective

1. Frères prêcheurs: the Dominicans.^[8][9][5]
2. (pejorative) Moralizing, sententious: Ton frère est bien prêcheur.^[5][3][8]

Related words

• prêcher
• prêche
• prédicateur
• Latin praedicātor

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)