récapitulation

Forms

récapitulation f (plural récapitulations)^[1] Old French recapitulacion and rekapitulation.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin recapitulātiō (“a taking up again from the head, a summing up”).^[3][4][5][6] The Latin word is a noun of action formed on the supine of recapitulō (“to take up again from the beginning, to sum up”), from re- (“again”) and capitulum (“chapter, small head”),^[4][7] the diminutive of caput (“head”).^[8] In Christian Latin the noun meant “a taking up again from the head” in Irenaeus (2nd century) and, by extension, “a recalling of what precedes, a summary” in Jerome (4th century).^[3] Wiktionary notes that by surface analysis it is récapituler + -ation.^[1]

The verb itself was borrowed somewhat later, about 1370, by Oresme.^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Image du monde (mid-13th century) calls its last chapter “li recors et la recapitulacion des choses d'avant dites”, the recollection and summing up of the things said before.^[2][7] The TLFi gives a 13th-century manuscript of the Roman de Kanor with rekapitulation de l'histoire, a summary of the story.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word names the repetition of something point by point and, by metonymy, a piece of writing that sums things up.^[4][6] In rhetoric it became the figure of the peroration that lists the main points of a speech,^[4][2] and in the history of biology the loi de récapitulation is the law by which ontogeny repeats phylogeny.^[4] In the 14th century Henri de Mondeville used it in surgery for the count of all the bones of the body.^[2]

It entered everyday language along with the verb récapituler, for a point-by-point review of an operation or a speech, and in speech it is clipped to récap.^[4]

Timeline

• 1245 – First record, in the Image du monde.^[4][5][7]
• 14th century – Henri de Mondeville uses it for a summary count of the bones of the body.^[2]
• c. 1370 – Oresme borrows the verb récapituler.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A repetition or review point by point, as la récapitulation des dépenses.^[6][3]
2. A written summary that sums up what has been said.^[6][3]
3. (rhetoric) The figure in a peroration that lists the main points of the speech.^[6][2]
4. (biology) Loi de récapitulation: the law by which ontogeny repeats phylogeny.^[4]

Word family

• récap

Related words

• récapituler
• chapitre
• Late Latin recapitulātiō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)