preferer

Forms

preferer (present participle preferant; past participle preferé; first-person singular present prefer)^[1]

• preferrer^[1][2]

Middle French texts write it preferer, with participles preferé and preferee, and some preferer forms belong to proferer “to utter”.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praeferō (“to carry in front; to prefer”).^[1][5][6][7] The Latin verb is formed prae- (“before”) + ferō (“to carry”), continuing Proto-Italic *praiferō;^[1][8] the present stem of the simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”).^[1] The DHLF notes that the Latin verb meant “to carry in front”, figuratively “to show, display” and “to set before, rank higher”, and that French took over only the last of these.^[9] The FEW gives its Old Occitan counterpart as preferir.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Anglo-Norman: the AND's earliest citation dates from 1313–1314.^[2] On the Continent the verb appears about 1355 in Bersuire's translation of Livy, in the sense “to like better”, where none of the Roman youth li peust estre comparés ou preferés “could be compared with him or preferred to him”.^[5][11][12]

Semantic evolution

In Middle French the verb also meant “to put forward, announce”, in Jean Golein's Rational of about 1370, “to show oneself”, and intransitively “to prevail, have precedence”, as when Deschamps says the common good must prevail over all.^[11][12][13] Heralds used it for bearing the arms first and walking ahead.^[14][10] The past participle became an adjective in 1360 and the noun preferance is recorded from 1361.^[9]

Modern French préférer has only the sense “to like better”, extended in 1875 to plants and things that do best in certain places.^[5]

Timeline

• 1313–1314 – first Anglo-Norman record.^[2]
• c. 1355 – “to like better” in Bersuire's translation of Livy.^[5][12]
• 1360 – the past participle preferé used as an adjective.^[9][10]
• 1361 – the noun preferance.^[9]
• c. 1370–1372 – “to put forward, announce” in Jean Golein's Rational.^[11]
• 1875 – modern préférer said of plants.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. to prefer, like better, choose one person or thing over another.^[1][2][11]
2. (Anglo-Norman) to further, carry out; to prioritize.^[1][2]
3. (Anglo-Norman, finance) to give priority in payment, a prior claim to be paid.^[2]
4. to put forward, show; reflexive, to show oneself.^[11][12]
5. (intransitive) to prevail, have precedence.^[14][13]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word preferrer with the spelling preferer, first cites it from 1313–1314, and gives the senses “to further, carry out”, “to prefer, favour” and, in finance, “to give a prior claim to payment”;^[2][1] Wiktionary labels both its senses Anglo-Norman.^[2][1] English prefer, from the late 14th century, comes from the French verb and directly from Latin; its first sense was “to advance in rank or fortune, promote”.^[15]

Word family

• preference

Descendants

• Middle French preferer (→ French préférer)^[1]
• Middle English preferren (borrowed; → English prefer)^[15]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch gives the verb a head preferer only to refer to Godefroy's quotation from Bersuire;^[16] the AND heads it preferrer and the DMF preferer.^[2][11] It is a word of the 14th century, recorded in England some forty years before the continental texts.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. preferrer
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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9:428
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 768
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 546
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praeferō
9. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. préférer
10. ^ a b c Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9:294
11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. preferer
12. ^ a b c d 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. 10:404
13. ^ a b La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Jean-Baptiste de (1875–1882), Dictionnaire historique de l'ancien langage françois, ed. L. Favre, 10 vols., Niort: Favre, p. 8:422
14. ^ a b 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. 6:375
15. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:1717