relacioun

Forms

relacioun f (oblique plural relaciouns)^[1]

• relacion, relation, relaciun, relacione, rellacion, rellation, relaciom^[1][2][3]

On the Continent relacion and relation are by far the most frequent spellings.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin relātiō (“a bringing back; a report; a relation”).^[5][6][7] The Latin noun is formed referō (“to bring back, report”) + -tiō,^[1][8] and had from the 1st century both a legal sense, “testimony, report”, and a logical one, “link between two things”.^[9] Körting gives Italian rilazione as its Italian counterpart.^[10] Gamillscheg dates the French word only to the 14th century,^[11] the DHLF to about 1220.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The AND's earliest citation is from about 1136–1165.^[2] The Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel, a Norman poem of the third quarter of the 12th century, uses relation for an account or narrative.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “account, report” is the commonest in the Old French texts: Gautier de Coinci has faire relacïon “to give an account” about 1220.^[5][14] In charters from 1284 on, a la relation of a notary or sworn officer is his formal report or testimony, a legal sense the FEW finds until 1394.^[5][6][15] The philosophical sense “relationship, link” appears in Brunetto Latini's Tresor about 1265, where lord and subjects stand in relation to each other.^[5][14]

In Middle French the word took a general sense of any mutual relation, from 1338, and “narrative of an event” from about 1400.^[9][6] Modern French relation later named travellers' accounts, from 1602, and social relations and acquaintances, from the 17th century on.^[5][9]

Timeline

• c. 1136–1165 – first Anglo-Norman record.^[2]
• 1150–1175 – relation “account” in the Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel.^[12][13]
• c. 1220 – faire relacïon in Gautier de Coinci's Miracles.^[5][14]
• c. 1265 – “relationship, link” in Brunetto Latini's Tresor.^[5]
• 1284 – a notary's report in a charter of Franche-Comté.^[5][15]
• 1338 – a mutual relation in general.^[9]
• 1602 – a traveller's account.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. an account, report, retelling of events.^[1][14][2]
2. (law) the report or testimony of a notary or sworn officer.^[6][2][15]
3. a relationship, link, tie.^[14][2]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word relacion, first cites it from about 1136–1165, and lists the spellings relacione, relacioun, relaciun, relation, rellacion and rellation.^[2] Its set phrases are legal: par relacion de “on the report of”, aver relacion “to be considered”, aver relacion a “to refer to”, and faire relacion “to give an account”.^[2] Middle English relacioun, recorded from about 1300 for “relationship, connection” and, from the late 14th century for “telling, account”, comes from the Anglo-French and Old French word and directly from Latin, and became relation.^[16]

Descendants

• Middle French relation (→ French relation)^[17]
• Middle English relacioun (borrowed; → English relation)^[16]

Related words

• relater
• relatif

Usage notes

Wiktionary names the word by its insular spelling relacioun,^[1] the AND and the DEAF head it relacion, Tobler–Lommatzsch relacïon, and Godefroy, the FEW and the DMF relation.^{[2][3][14][15][6][17]} Godefroy's separate relacion “remission (of tribute)”, from a 15th-century text, is a different use.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. relacion
3. ^ 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. relacion
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 c d e f g h i 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. ^ a b c d e Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10:228
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 584
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. relātiō
9. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. relation
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 7929
11. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 804
12. ^ a b Guillaume de Saint-Pair, Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel (12th century), online edition with glossary, Caen: Presses universitaires de Caen, unicaen.fr/puc/sources/gsp
13. ^ 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. ChronSMichelM
14. ^ a b c d e f Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 8:664
15. ^ 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. 10:530
16. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. relation
18. ^ 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. 6:757