réaliser

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁe.a.li.ze/^[1]

Forms

réaliser^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned derivative of réel, after Medieval Latin reālis (“real, relating to things”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin rēs (“thing”).^[7][1] Bloch and Wartburg and Wiktionary take it from the old form real with the suffix -iser.^[7][1] English realize (1610s) was borrowed from it.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in law, in the customs of Boulogne (1495): acquestes non réalisées “acquisitions not made real”, that is, not secured on property;^[9][4] the GLLF glosses this first sense as converting a capital by contract into periodic payments.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Long a legal term of northern France (still unknown in Paris in 1605), it was used in réaliser un contrat (1507), to acknowledge a contract so as to acquire a real right, and disappeared from law with the Ancien Régime.^[4][9] In finance, from about 1719 under Law's system, it meant “to convert into money”;^[7][4][9] Voltaire calls it a new term brought into the language by that system.^[7][4][9] From it came réaliser un bénéfice (Stendhal, 1835).^[9][4]

The general sense “to make real” is in Cotgrave (1611), and the Académie has réalisez vos promesses in 1718;^[9] se réaliser “to come true” dates from before 1742 and “to fulfil oneself” from 1850 (Sainte-Beuve).^[9][4] It took the sense “to make a film” in 1908, and is also used in music for realizing a harmony (1853).^[9][4]

Translators from English first used it for “to become aware of” (Baudelaire's Poe, 1858); this sense spread from 1895 (Paul Bourget) despite strong criticism, and Proust still printed it in italics.^[4][7][9]

Timeline

• 1495 – A legal term in the customs of Boulogne.^[9]
• 1507 – Réaliser un contrat.^[9]
• 1611 – “To make real”, in Cotgrave.^[9]
• c. 1719 – “To convert into money”, under Law's system.^[7]
• Before 1742 – Se réaliser “to come true”.^[9]
• 1835 – Réaliser un bénéfice, in Stendhal.^[9]
• 1858 – “To become aware of”, in Baudelaire's translation of Poe.^[9]
• 1908 – Of making a film.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry out, achieve, make real: réaliser un rêve, un projet.^[3][1]
2. Se réaliser: to come true; to fulfil oneself.^[1][9]
3. To make, carry out (a sale, a purchase); réaliser des bénéfices, to make a profit.^[3][9]
4. (finance) To convert into cash, realize.^[9][4]
5. To direct (a film, a broadcast).^[1][4]
6. (music) To realize (a figured harmony).^[9]
7. (Anglicism, criticized) To realize, become aware of.^[1][4]

Word family

• réalisation

Related words

• réel
• réalité

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c 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 k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 133b
7. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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