renseigner

Forms

renseigner^[1] Old French renseignier.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French re- + enseigner.^[2][3][1] That verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *insignō, which took the place of the classical Latin insigniō (“to mark out, make known”).^[4][5] Rey notes that the link with the base verb is no longer felt today.^[3]

The modern sense “to give information” owes much to the noun renseignement, which had it first: Bloch and Wartburg date the verb in this sense to 1762, the Grand Robert to the second half of the 19th century, the TLFi to 1834.^[4][6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as renseignier in Wace's Conception Notre Dame (about 1145), meaning to give someone information about something, or to teach someone something.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb was both a stronger form of enseigner “to teach” and already a word for pointing something out to someone.^[3] Middle French gave it an administrative sense, “to enter in an account, to mention” (1358), and the Académie recorded the sense “to teach again” in 1798; both have since disappeared.^[3][2][7] Littré still gave “to teach again” as the first sense, and noted that “to give information” was not yet in the Académie's dictionary.^[8]

The noun renseignement, found once in 1429 and taken up again in 1755 for a piece of information about someone or something, carried the modern sense, which the verb took over in the 19th century: the reflexive se renseigner “to make inquiries” is recorded in 1823 and the active verb “to inform” in 1834.^[3][2] The participle renseigné “informed” appears in Dumas (1846), and un renseigné “a well-informed person” in Proust (1922).^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1145 – Renseignier appears in Wace's Conception Notre Dame.^[2][3]
• 1358 – Used in the administrative sense “to enter in an account, mention”.^[2][6]
• 1429 – The noun renseignement is recorded once.^[3]
• 1755 – Renseignement “piece of information” comes back into use.^[3]
• 1762 – Bloch and Wartburg date the modern sense of the verb.^[4]
• 1798 – The Académie records the sense “to teach again”.^[2][7]
• 1823 – Se renseigner is recorded by Boiste.^[2][3]
• 1834 – Boiste records the active sense “to give information”.^[2][7]
• 1846 – Renseigné “informed” appears in Dumas's Monte-Cristo.^[2]
• 1922 – Proust uses un renseigné for a well-informed person.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To inform someone, to give them the information they are looking for: L'employée a renseigné les voyageurs sur les horaires.^[9][2][8]
2. Of a thing: to be a source of information.^[9]
3. To fill in (a form, a field) with the information asked for.^[9]
4. Se renseigner: to inquire, to find out: Je me suis renseigné auprès de la mairie.^[9][8][1]
5. (obsolete) To teach again.^[8][3]

Word family

• renseignement

Related words

• enseigner
• enseignement

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c 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. 4, 713b
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert