disposer

Forms

disposer^[1]

• desposer, despouser, dispoiser, despoiser^[2]

dispouser and dispousé are in the BFM and DMF corpora.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dispōnō (“to place apart, arrange”), made French in form after poser;^[4][5] the Latin verb is formed from dis- and pōnō (“to put, place”).^[6][5] The FEW therefore lists the word under Latin pausō, the source of that verb.^[7] Körting gives Italian disporre beside the French verb.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Dialogues of Pope Gregory, a translation from the region of Liège of the late 12th century: La queile chose li totpoissanz Deus at disposeit “which thing almighty God has ordained”.^[9][10] In another passage it renders Latin disposuit.^[1] The TLFi dates that text about 1200,^[9] Bloch and Wartburg date the verb 1181 and the DHLF about 1200.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb came in with the sense of setting persons or things in order, often in a religious context, of God ordaining the world.^[5][9] Tobler–Lommatzsch adds the sense of preparing, and a reflexive for getting ready.^[1] A document of 1236 from Lille has disposer de “to decide, decree”.^[9] In England it took the senses of commanding, of disposing of a thing and of being inclined, and in medicine of being in good or bad health.^[2]

The sense of preparing a person's mind for something is recorded in 1370–1380,^[9][5] and Middle French used the verb for putting things into an order.^[11] The modern word is French disposer.^[9]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – disposeit in the Dialogues of Gregory, from Liège.^[1][10][9]
• 1181 – the date Bloch and Wartburg give.^[4]
• 1225–1250 – the first Anglo-Norman citation in the AND.^[2]
• 1236 – disposer de “to decide” in a document from Lille.^[9]
• c. 1270 – desposé in La Vie Seint Richard, written in England.^[12]
• 1370–1380 – “to prepare someone for something”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to arrange, set in order, place.^[1][9][2]
2. to ordain, lay down; to decide.^[9][2]
3. to prepare.^[1]
4. (reflexive) to get ready.^[1]
5. (Anglo-Norman) to command, be in authority over; to dispose of, grant.^[2]
6. (past participle) disposed, inclined;^[2] (medicine) in good or bad health.^[2]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word disposer, with the spellings desposer, despouser, dispoiser and despoiser, and first cites it from the second quarter of the 13th century.^[2] Its senses run from arranging and regulating to commanding, granting and using, and the past participle meant inclined or, of the body, in good or bad health.^[2] The MED derives the Middle English verb disposen from disposer,^[13] the source of the English verb dispose.^[14]

Descendants

• Middle French disposer (→ French disposer)^[11][9]
• Middle English disposen (borrowed; → English dispose)^[13][14]

Related words

• poser

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy's Complément, the AND and the DMF all head the word disposer.^[11][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 2:1954
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. disposer
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 237
5. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. disposer
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8:69
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 3026
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
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. DialGregF
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. disposer
12. ^ Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. PAbernRichR
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