comprendre French · revision 16293

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1120, Oxford Psalter|origins=la prehendō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''comprendre'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|cumprendre]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|comprehendō|t=to grasp, seize; to include; to understand]], in its contracted form “comprendere”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|2, 988a) Bloch and Wartburg and Wiktionary present it as inherited from popular Latin “comprendere”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) The Latin verb was formed from [[m|la|cum|t=with]] and [[m|la|prehendō|t=to take, seize]] (see [[prendre]]), literally “to seize together, embrace”; the intellectual sense “to grasp with the mind” appears in Cicero and lives on in all the Romance languages.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Cognate with [[ro|cuprinde|t=to include]], [[it|comprendere]], [[ca|comprendre]] and [[es|comprender]].^(REW 1935)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1120 in the Oxford Psalter in the physical sense “to seize, catch”: ''e seient cumpris en la lur superbe'' “and let them be taken in their pride”, translating Latin ''comprehendantur''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The physical sense made the word a near-synonym of [[prendre]] until the 16th century (last recorded 1604), sometimes with the violent force of “to grab”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It gradually gave way to “to include, embrace in a whole” (late 12th century) and to “to grasp with the mind” (late 12th or early 13th century); the latter was rare until the 15th century, but from the 17th century it drove [[entendre]] out of everyday use in this sense.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) By extension ''comprendre'' came to mean “to understand someone, accept their reasons”, now the dominant sense.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Familiar nouns for “understanding, wits” were formed regionally: ''comprenure'' (Canada, 1835), ''comprenette'' (Paris, 1886–1896) and ''comprenoire'' (1926).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) [[incompris]] (about 1450) has had an emotional sense, “misunderstood”, since 1831.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1120 – ''Cumpris'' “seized” in the Oxford Psalter.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 12th century – “To include”.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 12th–early 13th century – “To understand”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1450 – ''Incompris''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1604 – Last record of the sense “to seize”.^(TLFi)

+ * 17th century – Replaces ''entendre'' “to understand” in everyday use.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1886 – ''Comprenette''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To include, [[m|en|comprise]]: ''La péninsule Ibérique comprend l'Espagne et le Portugal.''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To include, count in: ''Le loyer ne comprend pas les charges'', ''y compris''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To [[m|en|understand]], grasp the meaning or reasons of: ''comprendre une phrase''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To understand (a person), sympathize with: ''Je vous comprends.''^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Se comprendre'': to understand one another; to be understandable.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[incompris]]

+ * [[comprenette]]

+ * [[compris]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[compréhensible]]

+ * [[compréhension]]

+ * [[prendre]]

+ * [[entendre]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}