convaincre French · revision 16928

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1174, Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Vie de saint Thomas Becket|origins=la vinco}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɔ̃.vɛ̃kʁ/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''convaincre'''^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|convincō|t=to prove guilty; to expose (an error); to prove]], adapted to the form of [[vaincre]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) The Latin verb is formed from [[m|la|cum|t=with]], here intensive, and [[m|la|vincō|t=to conquer]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

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+ The Latin word also gave [[oc|convencer]], [[es|convencer]] and [[it|convincere]].^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it about 1174 in his life of Thomas Becket for bringing someone to admit guilt.^(TLFi) Littré quotes a 12th-century line, ''se de felunie fust nuls huem convencuz'' “if any man were convicted of felony”.^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word came in as a legal term in the Latinate construction ''convaincre quelqu'un de quelque chose'', to prove someone guilty of something.^(DHLF 1992) Until the 17th century it often meant simply “to demonstrate, prove”, after the Latin verb.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Calvin uses it in 1541 for exposing a fault or crime, a sense that has died out.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ The modern sense, bringing someone to accept something as true, is in Pascal's ''De l'art de persuader'' (1657).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The participles became adjectives in the 17th century: [[convaincant]] (1633, written ''convainquant'' in 1618) and [[convaincu]] (1677), which under the influence of [[conviction]] came to mean “full of conviction” (1823).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The legal sense survives in ''atteint et convaincu de'', “charged with and found guilty of”.^(GLLF 1989)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1174 – “To prove guilty”, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^(TLFi)

+ * 1541 – “To expose (a fault)”, in Calvin.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1579 – The noun [[conviction]] is borrowed, first as a legal term.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1633 – ''Convaincant'' “convincing”, in Corneille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1657 – “To persuade (someone) of a truth”, in Pascal.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1677 – ''Convaincu'' as an adjective, in Racine's ''Phèdre''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1823 – ''Convaincu'' “full of conviction”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|convince]], [[m|en|persuade]]: bring someone to accept a fact or an idea as true.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary) ''Convaincre quelqu'un de'' with an infinitive: to talk someone into doing something.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(reflexive)'' ''Se convaincre'': to persuade oneself.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(law)'' To prove guilty, [[m|en|convict]]: ''convaincre quelqu'un de mensonge'', ''atteint et convaincu de'', charged with and found guilty of.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[convaincant]]

+ * [[convaincu]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vaincre]]

+ * [[conviction]]

+ * [[la|convincō]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}