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
- To pronounce, deliver (a judgment, a decision) by virtue of one's authority: prononcer un arrêt, une sentence.[8][2]
- To utter, say: prononcer un mot.[8][1]
- To deliver (a speech): prononcer un discours.[1][5]
- To articulate (sounds, words) in a given way: bien, mal prononcer.[10][1]
- 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
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 445a
- ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
- ^ 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