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tutelle

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Etymology and origin of the French word tutelle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1332 Registre de l'échevinage de Saint-Jean-d'Angély More words from the 14th century
Borrowed from
Latin tutela
Ultimate origin
Latin tueor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tūtēla
French tutelle
From the same root
English tutelage ← tūtēla

Pronunciation

Forms

tutelle f (plural tutelles)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tūtēla (“watching over, protection, guardianship”), a legal term in Latin as well.[2][3][4] The Latin noun comes from tueor (“to look at, watch over, defend”).[5][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg group it with tuteur and tutélaire, borrowed from the related Latin words tūtor and tūtēlāris.[8]

The Grand Robert and the GLLF date it to 1332, while the Petit Robert gives 1437.[5][6][9] Littré notes that the older language said Old French tuterie instead.[7] Cognate with Italian tutela and Spanish tutela.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1332, in the registers of the aldermen of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, as a term of civil law: the guardianship of a minor.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Brought in as a legal word, it soon took on the wider Latin sense of protection or safeguard, in Bersuire's translation of Livy (about 1355).[2][4] From 1513, in Gringore, it also had a pejorative sense, the state of someone kept under irksome supervision, as in the phrase tenir gens d'esglise en tutelle.[2][4] In the schools of the late 15th century it named the board and supervision a landlord gave a student (1478), a use Littré illustrates with a 15th-century quotation.[4][7]

From the 16th century it entered legal phrases such as mettre en tutelle (1530) and hors de tutelle (1552).[4] Sailors borrowed another Latin sense, the arms of the prince or patron carved on the stern (1752), now obsolete.[4] After the Second World War it passed into international law, with territoire sous tutelle (1946), and into administration, where the tutelle administrative is the control the state keeps over local authorities and public bodies.[4][9]

Timeline

  • 1332 – First record, as a term of civil law.[2]
  • c. 1355 – Bersuire uses it for protection or safeguard.[2][4]
  • 1478 – It names a student's board and supervision.[4]
  • 1513 – Gringore uses it for a state of dependence.[2]
  • 1530 – Mettre en tutelle is recorded.[4]
  • 1752 – A naval sense, the carved arms on a ship's stern.[4]
  • 1946 – Territoire sous tutelle enters international law.[4][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (law) guardianship: the legal arrangement giving a tuteur, with a family council, charge of the person and property of a minor or of an adult who cannot act alone.[2][9][10]
  2. (administration) The supervisory control the state keeps over local authorities and public bodies, as in ministère de tutelle.[9]
  3. (international law) trusteeship, the United Nations regime for territories placed sous tutelle.[9]
  4. A state of dependence on someone who supervises one closely.[9][2]
  5. Watchful protection, as in sous la tutelle des lois.[9]

Word family

  • cotutelle

References

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 450a
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tutelle.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/tutelle. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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