représentant

Forms

représentant m (plural représentants, feminine représentante)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French représenter: its present participle was used as an adjective in the 15th century and remade as a noun in law.^[2][3][4][5] Bloch and Wartburg and the Petit Robert date the legal noun to 1508,^[6][4] while the TLFi's first record is from 1599.^[5]

représenter is from Latin repraesentō (“to make present, reproduce”), from praesēns (“present”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective in the 15th century it meant “who represents” and also “who has presence, imposing”, a sense that did not last.^[2][3][4] As a noun it first named, in law, a person who acts in place of another (1508).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1599 the customs of Normandy used it of an heir who comes to a succession by exercising the rights of a person who died before.^[5] From 1680 it named the person chosen by a society or body to act in its name,^[2][4] and Bossuet used it in 1690 of the representative of a religious community.^[5] A sense “actor who plays a part” (1616) has gone out of use.^[2]

From the 18th century it became a word of politics: Montesquieu used it of an elected member of a legislative assembly in 1748, followed by représentant de la nation (1755, Turgot) and représentant du peuple (1762),^[2][5] values that spread with the institutions of the Revolution;^[2] in 1793 représentant named a member of the Convention.^[7][8] Buffon tried in 1778 to use it in natural history for a species typical of others, anticipating the modern sense “an individual taken as typical of a class”.^[2][5]

In the 19th century it entered commerce, for a person who seeks orders for a firm (1875), especially in représentant de commerce;^[2][5][6] in the 20th century it was used in diplomacy, and it acquired technical senses in mathematics, grammar and psychoanalysis.^[2]

Timeline

• 15th century – Used as an adjective, “imposing, who has presence”.^[2][3]
• 1508 – First used as a noun in law.^[2][6][4]
• 1599 – The customs of Normandy use it of an heir who succeeds by representation.^[5]
• 1616 – Used of an actor who plays a character.^[2]
• 1680 – A person chosen by a body to act in its name.^[2][4]
• 1690 – Bossuet uses it of the representative of a religious community.^[5]
• 1748 – Montesquieu uses it of an elected member of a legislative assembly.^[5][2][6]
• 1762 – Représentant du peuple is recorded.^[2]
• 1764 – Rousseau uses it of a group of Geneva citizens attached to public liberties.^[5]
• 1778 – Buffon uses it of a species that shows the characters of a kind.^[5][2]
• 1875 – Larousse records the commercial sense.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who acts in another's name; an agent, delegate or proxy.^[4][9]
2. A person chosen by a group to act for it: représentant du personnel, représentant syndical.^[4][9]
3. An elected member of a legislative assembly;^[4][9][5] les représentants du peuple, the members of parliament.^[4][9][5]
4. A person who represents a state or government with another; a diplomat.^[9][2]
5. A person who visits customers on behalf of a firm; a sales representative, représentant de commerce.^[9][2]
6. (law) A descendant who comes to a succession in the place of a deceased heir.^[4][8]
7. An individual, thing or species typical of a class or kind.^[2][5]
8. (mathematics) An element of an equivalence class.^[10]

Related words

• représenter
• représentation
• représentatif
• Latin repraesentō

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