protégé

Forms

protégé (feminine protégée, masculine plural protégés, feminine plural protégées)^[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle from French protéger, used as an adjective and a noun.^[2][3][4] Protéger (1395) is borrowed from Latin prōtegō (“to cover, protect”).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, “sheltered, kept safe”, it goes back to the end of the 14th century.^[4] The noun, “a person who has a protector”, is dated 1741 by Rey,^[6] and 1747, in Gresset, by Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective took special uses in economics, pays protégé (1859), and in international law, État protégé (1875), beside protectorat.^[6][4] The highway code has passage protégé (1955), a crossing where the main road has the right of way.^[6][4] The noun came to mean any person or animal one takes under one's protection, and a person whose career one furthers.^[3][7]

Timeline

• Late 14th century – The participle is used as an adjective, “sheltered”.^[4]
• 1741 – Used as a noun for a person with a protector.^[6]
• 1747 – The noun appears in Gresset.^[4][5]
• 1859 – Pays protégé in political economy.^[6]
• 1875 – État protégé is recorded in Larousse.^[6][4]
• 1955 – Passage protégé in the highway code.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. protected, sheltered from a danger or risk: une espèce protégée, un site protégé.^[3][7][2]
2. (law) État protégé: a state under a protectorate.^[3][4]
3. (traffic) Passage protégé: a crossing where the main road has priority over traffic from the right.^[4][2]

Noun

1. A person or animal taken under someone's protection, and a person whose success someone furthers, a protégé: c'est son petit protégé.^[3][7][1]

Related words

• protéger
• protection
• protecteur
• protectorat
• Latin prōtegō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)