aprover

Forms

aprover (verb)^[1][2]

• aprouver, approuver^[2][3][4]

The insular texts also have approber and approvir.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin approbō (“to approve; to prove”).^[5][6][7][8] The Latin verb is formed with ad- on probō (“to test, prove”), the source of prover.^[9] Its Romance cognates include Italian approvare, Spanish aprobar and Old Occitan aproar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the French glosses of Rashi, which the DEAF dates to the end of the 11th century.^[10][11] There the word, written in Hebrew letters, glosses a Hebrew verb in passages of Genesis and the Second Book of Kings.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Old French used the verb mainly for "to prove, demonstrate", with "to test, try" beside it;^[13][6][8] Gamillscheg notes that it shared the sense "to prove" with prover until the 16th century.^[13][6][8] The TLFi dates "to prove" to about 1200, in the Chevalier au cygne, and "to judge good, agree to" to 1250–1260, in the Atre périlleux.^[14] Tobler–Lommatzsch records "to approve, agree to", as of a will approved in Beaumanoir's Coutumes, and "to prove, make good", as of a charge no one dared to prove against Eustache.^[1]

The DHLF follows "to approve, find praiseworthy" from 1250 and the special use "to authorise" from 1538.^[9] This sense drove out the others, which passed to French prouver and French éprouver.^[9] The modern word is French approuver.^[14]

Timeline

• 1085–1100 – in the French glosses of Rashi.^[10][12]
• late 12th century – "to prove, demonstrate", by Greimas's dating.^[13][9]
• c. 1200 – aprouver "to prove" in the Chevalier au cygne.^[14]
• after 1227 – "to prove, make good" in Eustache le Moine.^[1]
• 1233–1266 – in the first Anglo-Norman text the AND cites.^[3]
• 1250–1260 – "to judge good, agree to" in the Atre périlleux.^[14]
• 1538 – "to authorise".^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to prove, demonstrate; to make good a charge.^[1][13][15]
2. to approve, agree to; to sanction.^[1][3][14]
3. to test, try.^[13][15]
4. to convince; to canonize.^[15]

Anglo-Norman

The AND first cites the word from the middle third of the 13th century, with the senses "to prove, provide evidence for" and "to approve, sanction", and the participle for something tried and tested or officially approved.^[3] The insular verb apruer "to exploit, improve land for profit", also spelled aprover, has a separate source and its own article in the AND.^[16][17] Middle English borrowed the verb, the source of the English word approve.^[3]

Descendants

• Middle French approuver (→ French approuver)^[18][14]

Related words

• prover

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch and Godefroy head the word aprover, the AND aprover and the DMF approuver.^{[1][2][3][18]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 1:481
2. ^ a b c 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. 1:364
3. ^ a b c d e f g Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. aprover
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25:52
6. ^ a b c Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 53
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 556
8. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 72
9. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. approuver
10. ^ 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. aprover
11. ^ 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. RaschiD2
12. ^ a b Katan, Moshe (1988), Otzar La'azei Rashi: the Old French glosses of Rashi, Jerusalem; digital edition Sefaria, p. s.v. aprover
13. ^ a b c d e Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. aprover
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Godefroy, Frédéric (1901), Lexique de l'ancien français, ed. J. Bonnard and A. Salmon, Paris / Leipzig: Welter, p. 1:29
16. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. apruer
17. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9:417
18. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. approuver