opter French · revision 15964

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1411, Nicolas de Baye|origins=la optō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɔp.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''opter'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|optō|t=to examine; to choose; to wish]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|7, 378b) a word little represented in the Romance languages.^(DHLF 1992) Rey describes it as the frequentative of an unattested “*opiare” “to choose”, a trace of which seems to survive in a gloss; comparisons with Hittite and Slavic words have been proposed, but no Indo-European family emerges.^(DHLF 1992) Littré linked it with [[la|apīscor|t=to reach, get]] and [[m|la|aptus]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Journal'' of Nicolas de Baye (1411) has it in the sense “to choose”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The verb has always expressed choosing between several persons or things that exclude one another, often in law (''opter pour la nationalité française'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The Latin sense “to wish” appears in Rabelais (1552) but did not survive past 1611.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Proust uses it in jest for a trivial choice of dessert.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The noun ''option'', borrowed in 1200 in the Latin military sense “adjutant”, has meant “choice” since 1350, ''droit d'option'' dates from 1765, and in the 20th century it became a term of trade (1918) and of the motor industry (1969).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1200 – ''Option'' “adjutant”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1350 – ''Option'' “choice”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1411 – ''Opter'' in Nicolas de Baye.^(TLFi)

+ * 1552 – “To wish”, in Rabelais.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1765 – ''Droit d'option''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|opt]], choose (between alternatives): ''opter pour une solution'', ''opter entre deux partis''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[option]]

+ * [[optionnel]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[adopter]]

+ * [[coopter]]

+ * [[optatif]]

+ * [[la|optō]]

+ * [[en|opt]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}