docteur French · revision 17320

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=mid-12th century, Roman d'Alexandre (doctor)|origins=la doceō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /dɔk.tœʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''docteur''' ''m'' (plural docteurs, feminine docteur or (especially Canada) docteure or (dated) doctoresse or (slang) docteuse or (rare) doctrice)^(Wiktionary)

+ First written ''doctor'', adapted as ''docteur'' by 1350.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|doctor|t=teacher]], an agent noun from [[m|la|doceō|t=to teach]]; in Christian Latin it meant a doctor of the Law, a priest who teaches the faith, and also a physician.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 112a) The Petit Robert connects “doceō” with [[grc|δοκεῖν|tr=dokeîn|t=to seem; to think]] and [[m|grc|δόγμα|tr=dógma|t=opinion]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Compare [[ro|doctor]], [[it|dottore]], [[es|doctor]], [[pt|doutor]] and [[de|Doktor]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As ''doctor'' it is found in the mid-12th century, in a ''Roman d'Alexandre'', meaning a learned man.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence (1174–1176) uses it in religion, of a theologian teaching the truths of Christianity.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) About 1350 it became a university degree (''docteurs en decrés'', in canon law), and at the end of the 15th century ''docteur en médecine'' appears.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From this it slid to its dominant modern sense, “physician”: the form of address ''docteur'' is found in 1767 and in Beaumarchais (1775).^(BHVF)^(TLFi) Bloch and Wartburg explain its spread in the 19th century by the doctors' wish to stress their title at a time when the lesser grade of ''officier de santé'' still existed.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Familiar ''doc'' (about 1950) owes something to American English.^(DHLF 1992) The feminine ''doctoresse'' meant a learned woman (15th century), a doctor's wife (1773) and a woman doctor (1855); in Quebec ''docteure'' is used.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * mid-12th century – ''Doctor'' “learned man”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1174–1176 – A teacher of religion, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1350 – A university degree.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * late 15th century – ''Docteur en médecine''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1767 – ''Docteur'' as a form of address to a physician.^(BHVF)

+ * 1855 – ''Doctoresse'' “woman doctor”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1950 – Familiar ''doc''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|doctor]], physician: ''appeler le docteur''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A form of address to a physician: ''bonjour, docteur''.^(BHVF)^(Larousse)

+ # A holder of a [[m|en|doctorate]]: ''docteur ès lettres'', ''docteur en droit''.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(religion)'' ''Les docteurs de la Loi'', ''les docteurs de l'Église'', the great theologians of the Church.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(dated)'' A learned man, ''(pejorative)'' a pedant.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(papermaking)'' A doctor blade.^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[doctoral]]

+ * [[doctoresse]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[doctorat]]

+ * [[médecin]]

+ * [[physicien]]

+ * [[docte]]

+ * [[la|doctor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}