verifier

Forms

verifier (present participle verifiant; past participle verifïé; first-person singular present verifi)^[1]

• verrifier, veriffier, verifiier^[2][3][4]

veriffié is the commonest form in the Middle French texts that LGeRM counts.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin vērificō (“to present as true”).^[6][7][8] Gamillscheg calls the source Medieval Latin and dates the French word to the 14th century.^[9] The Latin verb, first recorded in the 5th century, is formed from Latin vērus (“true”) and faciō (“to make”), the second part serving as a causative suffix.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is Anglo-Norman: the AND's first citation, from about 1260, where the verb means to establish something as true.^[2] On the Continent the TLFi and the DHLF first find it in 1296, in a text of the Parlement, in the legal sense of registering or ratifying a letter or deed.^[10][6]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, to register an edict or deed and so accept it as true, is the one Godefroy quotes from a royal ordinance of 1358.^[11][6] From 1402 it also means to prove that something is true, as in a testament from Tournai, and later to confirm the truth of a statement (1549) and to check whether something agrees with the facts (1680).^[10] The word continues as French vérifier.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1260 – the earliest Anglo-Norman citation in the AND.^[2]
• 1296 – registering a deed, in a text of the Parlement.^[10][6]
• early 14th century – Middle English verifien.^[12]
• 1358 – verifier les lettres in a royal ordinance.^[11][7]
• 1402 – “to prove true”, in a testament from Tournai.^[10][11]
• 1549 – “to confirm the truth of a statement”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. to substantiate, establish as true, verify.^[2]
2. to find out the truth about.^[2]
3. (law) to register, ratify (a letter, deed or edict).^[10][11]
4. to prove; to examine (a thing) to make sure it was done properly.^[10][11]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the verb verifier, with the spelling verrifier, and first cites it from about 1260, earlier than any continental record.^[2] Middle English verifien comes, according to the MED, from Old French verifiier and verifier and Anglo-French verrifier,^[13] and Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century; it is the source of the English word verify.^[12]

Descendants

• Middle French verifier (→ French vérifier)^[14][10]
• Middle English verifien (borrowed; → English verify)^[13][12]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch and the DEAF head the verb verifiier,^[15][4] Godefroy's Complément, the AND and the DMF verifier.^[11][2][14] The DEAF's own earliest dated record is from 1362–1364, so the word belongs mostly to the end of the Old French period and to Middle French.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b 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. verifier
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 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. verifiier
5. ^ ATILF (2017), LGeRM: lexique morphologique du moyen français, version 2.0.0, Nancy: ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, ORTOLANG (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 FR), p. s.v. vérifier
6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. vérifier
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 708
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14:287
9. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 939
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d e f 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. 10:846
12. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. verifier
15. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 11:275