tacite

Forms

tacite (plural tacites)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tacitus (“not spoken of, silent”),^[2][3][4] the past participle used as an adjective of taceō (“to be silent”), the source of taire.^[2][3][5] According to Littré the older French word was taisible, and the borrowed adjective only came into general use in the 16th century.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and Rey date the French word to 1466, when it meant “mute, silent”.^[3][5][4] The sense “implied, not expressed” is found earlier in Old Gascon, in 1286, in the Gascon version of the Établissements de Rouen (permission expresse ou tacite), and in Old Occitan from 1352.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “silent”, taken straight from Latin, became literary and then archaic;^[4][6] Littré already calls it an unused Latinism.^[4][6] The current sense, “not formally expressed, understood”, is recorded in French from 1495 and had legal uses from the 16th century, as in tacite reconduction, the renewal of a lease or contract that neither party ends.^[4][7] The adverb tacitement (1474) also meant “secretly, in a low voice” around 1495.^[4]

Timeline

• 1286 – The sense “implied” appears in Old Gascon.^[2][4]
• 1352 – The same sense is found in Old Occitan.^[4]
• 1466 – First French record, meaning “mute, silent”.^[3][5][4]
• 1474 – The adverb tacitement is recorded.^[4]
• 1495 – The sense “unexpressed, understood” is found in French.^[4]
• 1531 – Une tacite convention appears in the printed edition of Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial.^[2]
• 16th century – Legal use, as in tacite reconduction.^[4][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not formally expressed but understood or agreed between people; implicit: un accord tacite, une approbation tacite.^[7][2][8]
2. (law) Tacite reconduction: the renewal of a contract or lease when neither party gives notice to end it.^[7][6][8]
3. (archaic, literary) silent, mute.^[6][4]

Word family

• tacitement

Related words

• taire
• taisible
• Latin tacitus

Usage notes

Tacite is the opposite of exprès and formel.^[8][7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse