autorisier

Forms

autorisier v.^[1][2]

• autoriser, auctoriser, auctorisier, auctorizer, auctorizier, actorisier, auttorisier^[3][4][5]

Spellings with auct- were usual until the 16th century, and auth- appeared in the 15th.^[6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin auctorizō (“to confirm”),^[7][8][6][4] a verb recorded in 838 in a council of Toul,^[7] derived from Latin auctor (“author, originator”).^[8] The FEW files otroiier "to grant" under the same Latin verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The AND's first citation is from an Anglo-Norman text of about 1136–37.^[3] The TLFi's first continental record is in the Loherains, of the 12th century, in the sense "to approve": Que tous li mons le doie actorisier "that all the world must approve him".^[7] The DEAF's first dated text is Gautier d'Arras's Eracle, of about 1175.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

From approving and sanctioning, the verb passed in the 13th century to certifying or proving a thing and to giving authority to a person: Gautier de Coinci writes Avoirs les riches autorize "wealth gives the rich authority".^[7] The FEW records "to glorify, honour" from about 1224 into the 16th century, and "to regard (someone) as an authority, cite as an authority".^[4] The past participle meant "worthy of belief", as in a miracle auctorisie of the Chevalier au cygne.^[7] In law it described, from 1316, a person who had received authority; from 1439 the verb meant "to permit", the main sense of modern French autoriser.^[7]

Timeline

• 1136–1137 – first citation in the AND.^[3]
• 12th century – actorisier "to approve" in the Loherains.^[7][4]
• c. 1175 – in Gautier d'Arras's Eracle.^[9][10]
• c. 1183 – auctorizé in Adgar.^[11]
• 13th century – "to certify" and "to give authority to" in Gautier de Coinci.^[7]
• 1316 – legal past participle "authorised".^[7]
• 1439 – "to permit".^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. to approve, sanction, confirm (an act, a law, a doctrine).^[7][3][4]
2. to recognise as authentic; to certify, prove.^[3][7]
3. to give authority to (someone).^[7][3][12]
4. to honour, esteem (someone); to cite as an authority.^[4][12]
5. (past participle) authoritative, worthy of belief;^[3][7] (law) authorised.^[3][7]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the verb auctoriser, with the spellings auctorisier, auctorizer, auctorizier, autoriser and autorisier, and first cites it from about 1136–37.^[3] Middle English took it as auctorisen "to give official sanction to", which the MED traces to the Old French verb as well as to Medieval Latin;^[13] Etymonline likewise gives both sources for English authorize, recorded from the late 14th century.^[14]

Word family

• autorité

Descendants

• Middle French autoriser (→ French autoriser)^[12][7]
• Middle English auctorisen (borrowed; → English authorize)^[13][14]

Related words

• otroiier

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch and Godefroy head the verb autorisier, the AND auctoriser and the DMF autoriser.^[12][3]

References

1. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 1:688
2. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 1:503
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. auctoriser
4. ^ a b c d e f g Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25:821
5. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 86
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
8. ^ a b Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 70
9. ^ a b Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. autorisier
10. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. GautArrErR
11. ^ Penn Parsed Corpus of Historical French, version 1.0, University of Pennsylvania & University of Ottawa (texts by file name), p. 1183-adgar-bfm-r
12. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. autoriser
13. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com