Etymologically
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raison

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁɛ.zɔ̃/[1]
  • IPA: /ʁe.zɔ̃/[1]

Forms

raison f (plural raisons)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French raison, inherited from Latin ratiō (“reckoning, account; reason”) (accusative “ratiōnem”).[2][3][4][5][1] The Latin noun is from “ratum”, the supine of reor (“to reckon, think”), itself old and of unknown origin.[3][6] “Ratio” first meant “account, calculation”, then the faculty of reckoning and reasoning, and in philosophy it translated Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos), which meant both “account” and “reason”.[3][4]

Cicero used it for the argument that justifies an action, whence Medieval Latin “dispute, discussion” (about 600) and Old French “speech, discourse”.[4][3] Its learned doublet is ration.[1][3] Cognate with Italian ragione, Occitan rason, Spanish razón and Portuguese razão.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 980 the Passion of Clermont opens with vera raizun, “a true account”, in the sense “speech, story”; the same text has de raizon “rightly”.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

By the 12th century the word had most of the senses of Latin ratio.[3] The sense “what is right, just” gave est raison que “it is right that” (about 1130) and avoir raison (about 1180), as opposed to tort.[2][3] About 1170 it named the faculty of judging well and the discursive intellect, as in Chrétien de Troyes.[2] The sense “account, reckoning” survived in the livre de raison, a household account book, until the 16th century.[4][3]

Raison “cause, motive” is found about 1112.[2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the Middle Ages confused Cicero's distinction between ratio, the reason one gives, and causa, the real cause; the borrowing of cause at the Renaissance restored it.[4][3] Later phrases include âge de raison (1690), mariage de raison (1826) and raison pure from Kant (1810).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 980 – Raizun “account, story” in the Passion of Clermont.[2]
  • c. 1112 – The sense “cause, motive”.[2]
  • c. 1130 – Est raison que “it is right that”.[2]
  • c. 1170 – The faculty of judgement, in Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • c. 1180 – Avoir raison in Marie de France.[2]
  • 1559 – Perdre la raison.[2]
  • 1690 – L'âge de raison in Bossuet.[2]
  • 1826 – Mariage de raison in Scribe.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. reason: the faculty of thinking and judging: la raison et la foi.[10][1]
  2. Good sense, sanity: perdre la raison, entendre raison.[2][11]
  3. A cause, motive: pour quelle raison ?, en raison de.[1][2]
  4. An argument, justification: de bonnes raisons.[2]
  5. Avoir raison: to be right, donner raison à: to side with.[2][1]
  6. (mathematics) The common difference or ratio of a progression.[1]
  7. Raison sociale: the registered name of a firm.[11]

Word family

  • arraisonner
  • déraison
  • raisonner
  • raisonnable
  • irraisonné

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 105a
  6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette