asembler

Forms

asembler (present participle asemblant; past participle asemblé; first-person singular present asemble)^[1]

• assembler, asanbler, assanbler, assambler, asambler, assemler, asemblier, assemblier^[2][3][4]

Chrétien de Troyes writes asanbler and assanbler, and Garin le Loherain assambler.^[3][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *assimulō (“to put together”), a derivative of Latin simul (“together”) with ad-.^[6][7][8][9] Wiktionary and Etymonline instead take it from the classical assimulō (“to make like, compare”).^[1][10] Gamillscheg saw the verb in the Reichenau glosses, where Late Latin comparavit is explained by adsimulavit,^[11] but the TLFi objects that this gloss belongs to similis (“like”), not to simul.^[8] Old Occitan had assemblar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Vie de saint Alexis, which the DEAF dates to about 1090 and the TLFi and the DHLF to about 1040.^[12][8][9] There the parents mean to join their children in marriage: Lor dous enfanz volent faire asembler "they want to have their two children united".^[8][13]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use, "to come together, be united", especially in marriage, is the oldest, and has died out.^[9] The transitive "to bring together, gather" is in the Roland: N'asemblereit jamais Carles si grant esforz "Charles would never gather so great a force".^[8] In Chrétien de Troyes the verb also means to arrange a marriage, to unite carnally and to engage in battle;^[3] Villehardouin writes En maint lieu assemblerent li François as Grex "in many places the French came to blows with the Greeks".^[14] The infinitive served as a noun, "encounter, clash", as in the Roman de Troie's A l'assembler e al partir "at the meeting and the parting".^[3][15]

From the 13th century the verb was also used of things, "to join, fit together".^[8] In the sense of gathering people the verb was later replaced by French rassembler.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1090 – asembler in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1040 in the TLFi's dating).^[12][13][8]
• c. 1100 – asemblereit "would gather" in the Chanson de Roland.^[8][16]
• 1100–1125 – first Anglo-Norman record.^[2]
• c. 1170 – asanbler in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide.^[3]
• 1175–1200 – assambler in Garin le Loherain.^[5]
• first third of the 13th century – said of things, "to join, fit".^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. to bring together, gather, unite (people, troops).^[3][2]
2. to join in marriage; to arrange (a marriage).^[3][8]
3. (intransitive, reflexive) to come together, assemble; to join someone.^[3]
4. (intransitive, reflexive) to unite carnally.^[3]
5. (intransitive) to engage in combat, come to blows (with).^[3][14]
6. to put together, join, fit (things); to collect, compile, add up.^[8][2]
7. (infinitive as noun) a meeting, an encounter in battle.^[3]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the verb assembler, first cites it from the first quarter of the 12th century, and lists the spellings asambler, asembler, asemblier, asemblir, assemler and assemblier.^[2] Insular texts use it for gathering people or goods, storing, compiling, stacking, joining in marriage, adding up and organising.^[2] English assemble, recorded from the early 14th century, comes from it.^[10]

Descendants

• Middle French assembler (→ French assembler)^[1][17]
• Italian assembrare (borrowed)^[1][7]
• English assemble (borrowed)^[1][10]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy, the DÉCT, the AND and the DMF head the verb assembler, Godefroy's Complément asembler and Foerster assanbler.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. assembler
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. assembler
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. ^ a b Camps, Jean-Baptiste, et al., Geste: a lemmatised corpus of Old French chansons de geste, github (texts by DEAF siglum), p. GarLorrI
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25:541
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 80
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
9. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. assembler
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 63
12. ^ 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. assembler
13. ^ a b Rainsford, Thomas (2025), Old Gallo-Romance Corpus, github (the earliest Gallo-Romance texts, lemmatised; texts by siglum), p. AlexisZ
14. ^ a b 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. assembler
15. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
16. ^ Stein, Achim; Kunstmann, Pierre; Gleßgen, Martin-D., eds., Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam, version 4 (lemmatised corpus of Old French texts, after A. Dees), Universität Stuttgart, github.com/michaniets/NCA (texts by DEAF siglum), p. RolS
17. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. assembler