Etymology and origin of the French word sacrer
sacrer1 to consecrate, crown
From the same root · sacrer1
Pronunciation
- /sa.kʁe/[1]
Forms
sacrer[1]
Etymology
The word for consecrating is borrowed from Latin sacrō (“to consecrate to a deity, make sacred”), borrowed about 1138 (the TLFi's first record is from about 1140), later than sacrement.[2][3][4][5][6] The Latin verb is from sacer (“sacred”).[6][4] Ernout and Meillet, quoted by the TLFi, define the adjective as what cannot be touched without defiling or being defiled, hence its double sense “sacred” and “accursed”.[2][4] Rey connects it with an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *sak-, like sānctus.[4]
The inherited forms of the Latin verb in the neighbouring languages are Spanish sagrar and Italian sagrare.[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
Geffrei Gaimar's history of the English (about 1140) has Cil fud a evesque sacrez “he was consecrated bishop”: a churchman's consecration.[2] Wace's Brut (1155) uses it for the anointing of a king.[2]
Semantic evolution
The verb kept the Latin sense of giving someone or something a sacred character by rites; it was also used for consecrating to God (about 1155) and, intransitively, for consecrating the elements at Mass (about 1200).[4] About 1175 it is said of blessing a place, the font in the Chronique des ducs de Normandie.[2] Much of its general use was later taken over by consacrer, and today it mainly concerns the crowning of kings and the consecration of bishops.[4][8]
The figurative sense of conferring dignity or recognition appears in 1593 in the Satire Ménippée: C'est la vertu qui sacre et couronne les roys.[2] The past participle sacré became an adjective in its own right, and since the middle of the 18th century, placed before the noun, an intensive in exclamations and oaths, the use behind homograph 2.[4][2]
Timeline
- c. 1140 – Gaimar uses it for consecrating a bishop.[2]
- 1155 – Wace uses it for crowning a king.[2]
- c. 1165 – The derived noun sacre “consecration” is recorded.[6]
- c. 1175 – It is used for blessing a place.[2]
- c. 1200 – Intransitive use for consecrating at Mass.[4]
- 1593 – First figurative use, in the Satire Ménippée.[2]
- 1790 – The noun le sacré “the sacred” appears.[2]
Meanings
Verb
- To consecrate someone by a religious ceremony with anointing, especially a king or a bishop: sacrer un roi.[8][2][9]
- (figurative) To confer a solemn or sacred character on; to hallow.[2][10]
- (with a complement) To proclaim, acclaim as: Elle a été sacrée meilleure joueuse de l'année.[8][10]
Word family
- sacré
- sacre
sacrer2 to swear, curse
- Confidence
- Probable
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1726 Grandval, Le Vice puni
- Ultimate origin
- Latin sacer
Pronunciation
- /sa.kʁe/[1]
Forms
sacrer[1]
Etymology
The word for swearing is from French sacré (“sacred, damned”), the past participle of homograph 1, from its frequent use in oaths.[2][6][5][4] Littré compares the shift with that of jurer, which also came to mean “to curse”.[7][2] The TLFi adds that both the blasphemous intensive adjective and the verb may have been helped along by sacre “brigand, lawless man”, as Gougenheim proposed.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first recorded in 1726 in Grandval's mock-heroic poem Le Vice puni, meaning to swear, to utter oaths.[2][4]
Semantic evolution
In the 18th century sacré itself came to mean “execrable, damned” in oaths (1790, the Père Duchesne); the same oaths gave euphemistic distortions such as sacrebleu, sapristi and saperlotte.[2][4][6]
The verb is now dated in Europe but very common in Canadian French, where swearwords (sacres) are drawn from church vocabulary.[4][8] There it also acts as an intensive meaning “to give, throw, put”: sacrer un coup “to deal a blow”, se sacrer de “not to care about”, and sacrer le camp “to clear off”, recorded by Clapin in 1894.[4][2] Louisiana French has the same uses: to swear, and to deal a blow or fling something.[11]
Timeline
- 1726 – Grandval uses sacrer for swearing.[2]
- 1790 – Sacré is used in the sense “damned, execrable”.[2]
- 1894 – Clapin records the Canadian sacrer le camp “to clear off”.[2]
Meanings
Verb
- (intransitive) (dated) (Quebec) To swear, curse, blaspheme;[8][2][9] sacrer contre to curse at something.[8][2][9]
- (Quebec, familiar) To give, throw or put, often violently: sacrer un coup to deal a blow.[4][11]
- (Quebec, familiar) Sacrer le camp: to clear off, get out.[2][4]
- (Quebec, familiar) Se sacrer de: not to care about.[4]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 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
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 37b
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
- ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
- ^ a b Base de données lexicographiques panfrancophone (BDLP), Trésor de la langue française au Québec / Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, bdlp.org
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Sacrer.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/sacrer. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.
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