recteur

Forms

recteur m (plural recteurs, feminine rectrice)^[1] Old French rector (1213), rectur (about 1270) and rectour (early 14th century).^[2][3][4] The feminine rectrice is recorded from 1558.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rēctor (“one who directs, governor, tutor”), derived from regō (“to direct, guide”).^[3][2][5] In Latin the word often meant the governor of a province or a tutor, and, from the 4th and 5th centuries it also named a church superior or the head of a religious house.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg take the French word from Medieval Latin rector, the word's medieval use.^[6] It is the same word as régir in origin.^[5][2]

Cognate with Occitan rector, Spanish rector, Portuguese reitor and Italian rettore.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as rector in 1213, for the captain of a ship, a calque of the Latin phrase navis rector.^[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The word soon took up the Latin specialization in teaching: from 1261 it named the head of a university, the first elected officer of the body, a title kept until the end of the Ancien Régime,^[2][6][4] and around 1270 it was used for the master of a school.^[3][2] In the Church it named a spiritual leader or prelate from the late 13th century,^[3][2][5] and, from 1690 in particular the superior of a Jesuit college.^[2]

From the 16th century it was the title of the priest of a parish in Brittany, a use that survives there and in parts of the south.^[3][6][2] Under the First Empire (1806–1808) the recteur became the head of each of the academies into which the Université de France was divided, the main modern sense.^[2][6][3] Since 1964 dictionaries also record it for a Catholic priest in charge of a church that is not a parish church.^[2][4] In Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada it is the head of a university, and the feminine rectrice is usual in Canada, while in France recteur is generally used of a woman too.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1213 – Rector is used for the captain of a ship.^[2][4]
• 1261 – Recteur names the head of a university.^[6][2]
• c. 1270 – Rectur means a schoolmaster in Pierre de Peckham's life of Saint Richard.^[3]
• c. 1283 – It names a church superior.^[2][5]
• 1575 – The Breton customary uses it for the priest of a parish.^[3]
• 1690 – Recorded for the superior of a Jesuit college.^[2]
• 1694 – The Académie records the word.^[3]
• 1806 – It becomes the title of the head of an academy of the Université de France.^[2][6]
• 1964 – Recorded for a priest serving a non-parish church.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. In France, the academic who heads an académie, the regional education authority, and represents the State to its universities: le recteur de l'académie de Lille.^[8][9][10]
2. (historical) Under the Ancien Régime, the elected head of a university.^[8][9][4]
3. (Belgium, Canada) The head of a university, a rector.^[10][8][3]
4. (dated) The superior of a Jesuit college or of some other religious school.^[3][4][9]
5. (Catholicism) A priest in charge of a church that is not a parish church, such as a place of pilgrimage.^[5][9][3]
6. (regional, Brittany) The parish priest of a parish.^[3][9][4]
7. (rare) One who directs or governs.^[3][7]

Word family

• rectoral
• rectorat
• vice-recteur

Related words

• rectrice
• régir
• Latin rēctor

Usage notes

The Grand Robert gives a second recteur, an adjective “directing” recorded before 1778 in Voltaire: in old chemistry esprit recteur was the fluid thought to carry odours, and the tail feathers that steer a bird's flight are pennes rectrices or simply rectrices (1803).^[5][4] Recteur magnifique is a title that the rectors of Catholic universities may bear.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b 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 s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)