prononcer

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pʁɔ.nɔ̃.se/^[1]

Forms

prononcer^[1] Old French pronuncier, purnuncier, prononcer from the 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōnūntiō (“to announce aloud; to proclaim; to pronounce, recite”) (1121–1134),^[5][6][7] formed with prō (“forth”) and nūntiō (“to announce”),^[5][3][2] a verb of the family of nūntius (“messenger”) that French replaced by its prefixed forms (annoncer, dénoncer, énoncer, renoncer).^[5][8]

Compare Spanish pronunciar and Italian pronunziare.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon has pronuncier about 1119;^[2] the Grand Robert gives it the sense “to declare, proclaim” at its first record about 1120,^[3] and an early 12th-century psalter says Purnuncera ma langue le tuen parlement, “my tongue will utter your word”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, it first meant “to declare, proclaim” and, with a person as object, “to name” (after 1350), uses lost in the 17th century.^[5] The legal sense “to pronounce (a sentence)” survived; it is in Beaumanoir about 1283.^[5][2] In Middle and classical French prononcer sur, contre, pour (1604) meant “to decide”, before se prononcer sur took over (1798).^[5][9]

From about 1225 the stress fell on the act of speaking: “to utter, articulate”; by extension “to deliver (a speech)” (1538) and simply “to say”.^[5] In classical French the verb also meant “to mark clearly” a feature in art (1667), a sense that lives on in the participle prononcé “marked, pronounced”.^[5] The noun prononciation (16th century) first kept the legal sense of Latin prōnūntiātiō “declaration”, prononçable is from 1611.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1119 – Pronuncier, in Philippe de Thaon.^[2]
• c. 1225 – “To utter, articulate”.^[5]
• c. 1283 – Of pronouncing a judgment, in Beaumanoir.^[2][5]
• 1538 – “To deliver (a speech)”.^[5]
• 1604 – Prononcer sur “to decide”.^[5]
• 1611 – Prononçable.^[6]
• 1667 – “To mark clearly”, in the arts.^[5]
• 1798 – Se prononcer recorded by the Académie.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pronounce, deliver (a judgment, a decision) by virtue of one's authority: prononcer un arrêt, une sentence.^[8][2]
2. To utter, say: prononcer un mot.^[8][1]
3. To deliver (a speech): prononcer un discours.^[1][5]
4. To articulate (sounds, words) in a given way: bien, mal prononcer.^[10][1]
5. Se prononcer: to give one's opinion, to come down for or against something; also, of a word or letter, to be pronounced.^[5][10]

Word family

• prononciation
• prononçable
• imprononçable

Related words

• prononcé
• annoncer
• énoncer
• nonce

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c 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 k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 445a
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b 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