proscrire

Forms

proscrire^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōscrībō (“to publish by a notice, to outlaw”), with its form gallicized after écrire.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb is formed from prō- (“before, in public”) and scrībō (“to write”).^[3][6][1] It first meant “to post a public notice”, especially of a sale, then “to announce the confiscation and sale of someone's goods” and “to put someone's name on a list of those condemned to death”; it is the last sense that French took.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it in his Vie de saint Thomas (1174–1176), meaning “to banish, outlaw”.^[2][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to condemn to banishment or exile”, taken from Latin in the context of civil strife, was rare before the 17th century and has stayed in literary use.^[3][4] At the Renaissance the verb was taken up in Roman history for condemning someone to death without trial by posting his name, a sense Estienne defines in 1539 and which has gone out of use.^[2][3]

From the early 17th century it took the figurative sense “to reject, abolish, suppress” a custom or practice;^[3][2][8] Richelet in 1680 speaks of proscribing a word, and the Académie records “to drive someone away” in 1718.^[3][2][8] The past participle proscrit is used as a noun from 1552 for a person who has been proscribed.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1174–1176 – First record, “to banish”, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[2]
• 1418 – The noun proscription is borrowed.^[3]
• 1539 – Estienne defines the Roman sense, a sentence of death that anyone may carry out.^[2]
• 1552 – The participle proscrit is used as a noun.^[2][3]
• 1680 – Richelet records proscrire un mot, “to banish a word from use”.^[2]
• 1718 – The Académie records “to drive away (from society)”.^[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Roman history) To proscribe: to outlaw, condemning someone to death or exile without trial by posting their name.^[2][8]
2. To banish, to exile: proscrire les opposants du régime.^[2][8]
3. (literary) To drive someone away, to exclude them from a group or from society.^[8][3]
4. To forbid, to ban; to condemn and reject a thing, a custom or a word: proscrire l'usage du téléphone en classe.^[2][1][3]

Word family

• proscrit

Related words

• proscription
• proscripteur
• écrire
• prescrire
• inscrire
• souscrire
• Latin prōscrībō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert