rapporteur

Forms

rapporteur m (plural rapporteurs, feminine rapporteuse or rapportrice or rapporteure)^[1] Feminine rapporteuse;^[1] Wiktionary also gives rapportrice and rapporteure.^[1] Old French raporteux (1282) and raporteur (14th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French rapporter + -eur.^[4][1][5][6] The verb, recorded from 1180, comes from apporter, which is from Latin apportō.^[7][8] Picoche places the word in the family of porter¹.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert dates the form raporteux to 1282.^[2] The TLFi, after the FEW, gives the first sense as “accuser, informer” about 1300; an ordinance of 1361 still pairs rapporteur ou accusateur mensongier (“false rapporteur or accuser”).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Around 1350 the word took the sense of a person who, from thoughtlessness or spite, repeats what he has seen or heard, the telltale of modern French;^[4][5] Jean le Bel already blames faulx rapporteurs in his chronicle.^[8] In the late 14th century Froissart uses it for the person who reports on a case,^[4][10] the source of the parliamentary and committee sense.^[5][3] In 1680 Richelet records it in geometry for the half-circle instrument used to measure and to lay out (rapporter) angles.^[4][3]

English took the word as rapporteur in 1791 for the person who reports a committee's proceedings to a higher body; it had been used earlier, about 1500, in the sense “reporter”.^[11]

Timeline

• 1282 – The form raporteux is recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 1300 – Used for an accuser or informer.^[4]
• c. 1350 – Gilles le Muisit uses it of a telltale.^[4]
• Late 14th century – Froissart uses it of the person who reports on a case.^[4]
• 1680 – Richelet records the geometrical instrument.^[4][3]
• 1791 – English borrows rapporteur for a committee's reporter.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A telltale, a person who repeats what should be kept quiet, from indiscretion or to do harm; also as an adjective.^[3][5][1]
2. A person who reports on a lawsuit to a court, or on a bill to an assembly, or who drafts and presents a report to a committee: juge rapporteur, rapporteur général.^[3][10][5]
3. (geometry) A protractor: a graduated half-circle for measuring or drawing angles.^[3][1]

Related words

• rapporter
• rapport
• apporter
• English rapporteur

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 48a
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
9. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com