geste French · revision 16471

+ {{homograph|1|gesture}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1213, Fet des Romains (gest)|origins=la gerō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʒɛst/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''geste''' ''m'' (plural gestes)^(Wiktionary)

+ First written ''gest'', ''geste'' from 1495, Commynes still used it as a feminine.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The gesture is [[bor|la|gestus|t=bearing; movement of the body; mimicry]], an action noun of [[m|la|gerō|t=to carry; to do]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|4, 126b)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Fet des Romains'' (about 1213) ''gest du corps'' is a way of carrying oneself; in 1495 the ''Miroir historial'' has ''Le geste de l'homme en tout acte doit estre gracieus'' (“a man's gesture in every act should be graceful”).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the late 15th century it named movements of the body, voluntary or not, and, from 1662 a simply expressive movement.^(DHLF 1992) Figuratively it came to mean an act, as in ''faire un geste'' and ''un beau geste''; in medicine one speaks of ''le geste qui sauve'' and of surgical ''gestes''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''Gesticuler'' (1578) was borrowed from Latin ''gesticulari'', and ''gestuel'' (1937) was formed when the gesture began to be studied as a sign.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1213 – ''Gest du corps'' in the ''Fet des Romains''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1495 – The form ''geste''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1578 – ''Gesticuler''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1662 – An expressive movement.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1937 – ''Langage gestuel''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|gesture]], a movement of the body, hands or head: ''s'exprimer par gestes''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A way of moving the hands to do something: ''un métier qui demande des gestes précis''.^(Larousse)

+ # An act, a deed: ''faire un geste'', ''un beau geste''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Joindre le geste à la parole'': to suit the action to the word.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gestuel]]

+ * [[gestualité]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|epic deeds}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1080|origins=la gerō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʒɛst/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''geste''' ''f'' (plural gestes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The epic geste is [[bor|la|gesta|t=deeds, exploits]], the neuter plural of the past participle of [[m|la|gerō|t=to do]], taken as a feminine singular; in Medieval Latin “gesta” also meant a narrative or history, as in the titles of chronicles such as the “Gesta Francorum”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873) Wiktionary treats the Old French word as inherited, with a spelling pronunciation.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Compare [[pro|gesta]] and [[it|gesta]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Rey and the Grand Robert date it to 1080; it named the epic poems telling the exploits of a hero or a family of heroes.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Bloch and Wartburg note that it also came to mean memorable deeds, still in use in the 17th century, whence ''faits et gestes'' (1615), and in the Middle Ages a group of epic traditions and the family whose deeds they told.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)^(AND) ''Chanson de geste'' “poem of historical deeds”, a medieval phrase, was taken up again by 19th-century literary history.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1080 – ''Geste'', an epic narrative.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1615 – ''Faits et gestes''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 19th century – Literary history revives ''chanson de geste''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(literature)'' A cycle of medieval epic poems about the deeds of a hero, ''chanson de geste'', one such poem.^(Larousse)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ # ''Faits et gestes'': doings, actions.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Old French)'' The family or lineage of an epic hero.^(Littré 1873)^(AND)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gérer]]

+ * [[gestion]]

+ * [[gesticuler]]

+ * [[la|gestus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}