genre French · revision 16074

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1121–1134, Philippe de Thaon|origins=la genus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʒɑ̃ʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ʒɔʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''genre''' ''m'' (plural genres)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|gendre]] (1121–1134), used until the 16th century, ''genre'' from about 1200; also ''gerre'' (Jean Marot).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is borrowed from [[la|genus|t=birth, descent; race; kind, sort]] (genitive “generis”),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|4, 116a) which covered all the senses of the Old French word; in philosophy, after Greek, “genus” was opposed to “species” (see [[espèce]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The Latin word comes from “gignere” “to beget”, from the Indo-European root “*gen(e)-” of [[grc|γίγνομαι|tr=gígnomai|t=to be born, become]] (see [[gène]], [[genèse]]).^(DHLF 1992) The Old French form “gendre” is probably due to the verb “gendrer” “to beget”, from Latin “generare”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ [[en|genre]] (1770) is from the modern word,^(Etymonline) and the Anglo-Norman “gendre” corresponds to [[en|gender]];^(AND) the sense “gender (identity)” is in turn a borrowing of meaning from English.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Philippe de Thaon's ''Bestiaire'' (1121–1134) has ''gendre'' in the everyday sense “kind, type”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ About 1200 it meant “sex” (rendering Latin ''sexus''), a sense lost since, and about 1245 a grammatical gender (Henri d'Andeli).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Humaine genre'' appears in the early 13th century and ''le genre humain'' in Montaigne (1580).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) About 1300 it was a philosophical term for the general idea of a group of things with common characteristics, and, from the mid-18th century (Buffon) the rank of classification above the species.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The sense “sort, kind” spread about 1400 (''en son genre'', 1690, ''genre de vie'', 1690).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) Racan (1654) used it for a category of literary works, later of paintings (''peinture de genre'', 1765, Diderot) and music.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) From 1835 it also meant a manner of behaving (''bon, mauvais genre'', ''se donner un genre'', 1845), and in modern colloquial French ''genre'' is a filler, “like, sort of”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1121–1134 – ''Gendre'' “kind” in Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – “Sex”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1245 – Grammatical gender.^(TLFi)

+ * Early 13th century – ''Humaine genre''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1300 – A philosophical term.^(TLFi)

+ * 1654 – A literary genre, in Racan.^(TLFi)

+ * 1765 – ''Peinture de genre'' in Diderot.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1770 – English ''genre''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1798 – ''Sous-genre'' in Cuvier.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1845 – ''Se donner un genre''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A kind, sort, type: ''un genre de vie'', ''unique en son genre''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A [[m|en|genre]] (in art, literature): ''le genre romanesque'', ''peinture de genre''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Style, manner; behaviour: ''avoir bon genre'', ''mauvais genre'', ''se donner un genre''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(grammar)'' [[m|en|gender|alt=Gender]]: ''le genre masculin''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # Gender (social, identity): ''études de genre''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(biology)'' A [[m|en|genus]], ''le genre humain'': mankind.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Like, sort of: ''un type genre bobo'', ''il était genre : « non ! »''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sous-genre]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[général]]

+ * [[générique]]

+ * [[gendre]]

+ * [[engendrer]]

+ * [[la|genus]]

+ * [[en|genre]]

+ * [[en|gender]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}