préférer French · revision 16472

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1355, Bersuire, translation of Livy|origins=la ferō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pʁe.fe.ʁe/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''préférer'''^(Wiktionary)

+ The Académie wrote ''preferer'' in 1694 and 1718 and ''préférer'' from 1740.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|praeferō|t=to carry in front; to show; to prefer]], formed from [[m|la|prae-|t=before]] and [[m|la|ferō|t=to carry]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|9, 294b) French took over only the sense “to consider better”.^(DHLF 1992) Littré noted that the Romance languages remade it as “*praeferire”, as in [[es|preferir]] and [[it|preferire]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1355 in Pierre Bersuire's translation of Livy, meaning “to like better”: ''Il n'i ot nul en toute la juvente romaine qui par nul art li peust estre comparez ou preferez'' (“there was none in all the Roman youth who could in any way be compared or preferred to him”).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The past participle ''préféré'' became an adjective in 1360 and a noun in 1711 (Dancourt), ''mon préféré''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Its constructions developed later: ''préférer de'' with the infinitive is in Madame de Sévigné (1685), and ''préférer que'' with the subjunctive was recorded by the Académie in 1835.^(GLLF 1989) In 1875 Larousse recorded its use for things, such as plants that grow best in certain places.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Derivatives include ''préférence'' (1361) and ''préférable'' (1516).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1355 – ''Preferer'' in Bersuire.^(TLFi)

+ * 1360 – The adjective ''préféré''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1361 – ''Preferance''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1516 – ''Préférable''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1685 – ''Préférer de'' + infinitive, in Madame de Sévigné.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1711 – ''Le préféré'' in Dancourt.^(TLFi)

+ * 1875 – Of plants, in Larousse.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|prefer]]: ''préférer le thé au café''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # With an infinitive or a clause: ''je préfère partir'', ''je préfère qu'il vienne''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ # (of plants) To do best in: ''une plante qui préfère l'ombre''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Se préférer'': to put oneself first.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[préférable]]

+ * [[préférence]]

+ * [[préféré]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|praeferō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}