raconter

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁa.kɔ̃.te/^[1]

Forms

raconter^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French re- + aconter (“to describe, relate”), Old French “aconter” (“Chanson de Roland”) being formed in turn from a- and conter.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Bloch and Wartburg note that the repetitive sense of “re-” is still felt in the earliest texts.^[5] Old French also had “reconter” “to tell” (1119, Philippe de Thaon).^[2] “Conter” continues Latin computō (“to count, reckon”), which took the sense “to tell” in popular speech, as German zählen “to count” beside German erzählen “to tell”; the spelling “compter” was later kept for counting.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Wace's Vie de sainte Marguerite (1130–1140) in the sense “to give a detailed account”, in raconter que; in his Roman de Rou (1160–1174) an epitaph raconte sez fez et comment il vesqui “tells his deeds and how he lived”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Jean de Meun uses it for “to explain, depict” (1269–1278); with a person as object it is in La Fontaine (1679: Je vous raconterai Térée), and with a thing as subject in Fontenelle (les cieux qui racontent la gloire de leur créateur).^[2] The reflexive se raconter “to talk about oneself” dates from Vauvenargues (1746).^[2]

The familiar en raconter is recorded by the Académie in 1798, and “to say lightly or in bad faith”, as in qu'est-ce que tu racontes ?, in Zola (1877).^[2] The noun racontar “piece of gossip” dates from 1867.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Old French aconter in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• 1130–1140 – Raconter in Wace.^[2]
• c. 1200 – Racontable.^[2]
• 1679 – With a person as object, in La Fontaine.^[2]
• 1746 – Se raconter, in Vauvenargues.^[2]
• 1867 – Racontar.^[5]
• 1877 – “To talk nonsense”, in Zola.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tell, relate, narrate: raconter une histoire, raconter ce qui s'est passé.^[4]
2. To describe, depict.^[4][2]
3. (familiar) To say, talk about, often lightly or untruthfully: qu'est-ce que tu racontes ?, raconter sa vie, to go on and on.^[2][4]
4. Se raconter: to talk about oneself.^[2]

Word family

• racontar
• racontable

Related words

• conter
• compter
• conte
• Latin computō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 995a