texte

Forms

texte m (plural textes)^[1] Old French tiste (early 12th century), teuste (about 1220), tiexte and tieuste.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also has tixte, teste and text.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin textus (“fabric, texture, the thread of a narrative”), the action noun of texō (“to weave, to interlace”).^[2][6][7] Under the Empire the Latin word came to mean the wording or content of a speech or account, and in the Church it named the authentic wording of Scripture and, from the 9th century, the Gospel book itself.^[6][2] The first French form, tiste (early 12th century), is an altered one; the learned spelling appears about 1155.^[6][4]

The English word text (late 14th century) was taken from Old French texte and the Old North French form tixte.^[8] The weaving verb itself survives in French as tisser.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Voyage de saint Brendan (early 12th century) tiste names the volume that contains the Gospels, a sense common throughout the Middle Ages.^[2][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The church sense lasted a long time: in 1704 the Trévoux dictionary still calls texte the Gospel book carried by the deacon at high mass and given to the celebrant to kiss.^[2][6] From the 13th century the word took up the other church sense of Latin textus, the authentic wording of a holy book as opposed to its gloss, and with it the general sense of the signs that make up a written work.^[6][2] The idea of authentic wording spread to law, where it meant the written terms of a law or deed (about 1275), and to translation, where Oresme opposes the author's own words to the version made of them (1370).^[6][2]

In sermons texte was the passage of Scripture that the preacher quoted at the start and took as his subject (about 1245), whence the subject of any talk (1690) and revenir à son texte (1668); this survives in schools, where it has meant a piece of work set for pupils since the early 20th century, as in cahier de textes.^[6][7] From 1636 it was a passage quoted from a book, and at school an extract typical of an author, as in choix de textes and explication de texte; the sense of a literary work as a whole settled only in the 19th century.^[6][2]

Since writing was its core sense, printers named type sizes after it: petit texte and gros texte (1556).^[6][2] It has meant the words of a song, as opposed to the music, since 1705, and in the 19th century scholars applied it to the editing of old writings, as in restituer un texte.^[6][2] Today it is also used for a text message.^[1]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – Tiste “Gospel book” appears in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2][6]
• c. 1155 – The spelling texte is found in Wace.^[4][6]
• c. 1220 – Gui de Cambrai uses teuste of the authentic passage of a holy book, as opposed to the gloss.^[2][6]
• c. 1245 – It names the passage of Scripture on which a sermon is preached.^[6][7]
• 1269–1278 – Jean de Meun has nomer par plain texte “to name in plain words”.^[2]
• c. 1275 – In law it means the written terms of a law or deed.^[6]
• 1370 – Oresme opposes an author's own words to the translation.^[2]
• 1520 – A printer's inventory uses it for a size of type.^[2]
• 1636 – Monet records the sense “passage quoted from a book”.^[2][6]
• 1690 – It means the subject of a talk or discourse.^[7][6]
• 1704 – The Trévoux dictionary records the liturgical Gospel book.^[2][6]
• 1705 – Brossard uses it in music, for the words set to music.^[2][6]
• 1734 – Dubos writes restituer le texte “to restore the text”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The words and sentences that make up a piece of writing or a work, written or spoken.^[9][10]
2. The original wording, as opposed to commentary, notes or a translation: en français dans le texte “in French in the original”.^[9][1]
3. A literary work or an extract from one: explication de texte, choix de textes.^[10][6]
4. The lines of a play or film, an actor's part: apprendre son texte.^[9][1]
5. The words of a song or an opera, as opposed to the music.^[11][6]
6. The written wording of a law or an official document.^[6][10]
7. (telecommunications) A text message, an SMS.^[1]
8. (religion) A passage of Scripture on which a sermon is preached.^[3][7]

Word family

• hors-texte
• hypertexte
• télétexte
• textuel

Related words

• contexte
• prétexte
• tisser
• Latin textus
• English text

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)