spectateur

Forms

spectateur m (plural spectateurs, feminine spectatrice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spectātor (“watcher, observer, spectator at the theatre”), a learned borrowing first recorded in 1372.^[2][1][3] The Latin noun is formed on spectātum, the supine of spectō (“to look at”).^[4][5][3] It belongs with spectacle, from the same Latin verb.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nicole Oresme uses it in 1372, in his translation of Aristotle's Politics, for a person attending a show.^[2] Until the 16th century the word was masculine only.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a witness of an event or an action, competing with regardant, which dropped out in this sense in the mid-17th century.^[3] The feminine spectatrice is recorded in 1579, in Henri Estienne.^[2][3] At the Renaissance it took the sense of someone attending a performance (1553), and, from 1588 (Montaigne) or 1637 (Descartes) it named a person who watches an action without taking part in it.^[2][3][4]

In the 18th century it was also used of the imagined observer from whose point of view a view or space is described, a use later taken over by observateur.^[3] The compound téléspectateur (1949) is now common.^[3] English spectator (1580s) was borrowed directly from the Latin word.^[7]

Timeline

• 1372 – Nicole Oresme uses spectateur of a person attending a show.^[2]
• 1538 – It means a witness of something, in Guillaume Michel's translation of Justin.^[2]
• 1553 – It is used of a person attending a performance.^[3][4]
• 1579 – The feminine spectatrice appears in Henri Estienne.^[2][3]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses it of an onlooker as opposed to the person acting.^[2]
• 1949 – The compound téléspectateur is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An eyewitness of an event, someone who watches what happens without being involved, an onlooker.^[8][2]
2. A person who looks at a work of art.^[8]
3. A person attending a show, a ceremony or a sports event, a member of the audience.^[8][6]

Word family

• spectatrice
• téléspectateur

Related words

• spectacle
• Latin spectātor
• English spectator

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert