mot French · revision 17486

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Passion de Clermont|origins=la muttiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mo/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /mɔ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mot''' ''m'' (plural mots)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|mot]], [[inh|la-lat|muttum|t=sound, grunt]], a back-formation from [[m|la|muttiō|t=to mutter, say mu]], built on an onomatopoeia “mu” for a sound made with the lips barely open.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|6/3, 303b)^(Wiktionary) Apuleius has the phrase “mutmut facere” “to make a barely audible sound”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The Grand Robert gives a popular Latin form “*mottum”.^(Grand Robert 2005) The same onomatopoeia is behind [[muet]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ In Late Latin “muttum” was used in negative sentences, “not a sound”, and so were the first French examples (“ne soner mot”, “ne tinter mot”); only afterwards did the word come to mean “speech, word”.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Cognate with [[it|motto]], [[oc|mot]] and [[ca|mot]], Bloch and Wartburg think Italian “motto” and Spanish “mote” came from Gallo-Romance.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ At the end of the 10th century the ''Passion'' of Clermont has ''Jesus li bons mot no'l soned'' “the good Jesus said not a word”, the phrase ''ne soner mot'' “to say nothing”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From about 1100 it meant speech, what one says (''Si lur ad dit un mot curteisement''), and ''n'en savoir mot'' “to know nothing of it”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In hunting it named a blast on the horn (about 1180), keeping a trace of the sound it once meant.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''Mot à mot'' dates from about 1170, ''bon mot'' from 1205–50 and the plural ''des mots'' “idle talk” from the late 14th century.^(TLFi)

+

+ The sense “word, unit of language” is attested by the late 12th century but long remained secondary to [[verbe]], which had religious weight; it became dominant in classical lexicography.^(DHLF 1992) ''Mot du guet'' (1530) gave ''mot de passe'' (1828–29); ''prendre au mot'' (1549) recalls the sense “price offered” in ''Pathelin'' (1464); ''un mot'' for a short note dates from 1578.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) ''Mots croisés'' (1929) follows English ''crossword''.^(TLFi) English borrowed ''mot'', “a witty saying”, in 1813.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 10th century – ''Ne soner mot'' in the ''Passion'' of Clermont.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Un mot'', a speech, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1170 – ''Mot à mot'' in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1180 – A blast on the hunting horn.^(TLFi)

+ * 1464 – The price asked, in the ''Farce de Maître Pathelin''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1530 – ''Mot du guet'', a password.^(TLFi)

+ * 1578 – ''Un mot'', a short letter.^(BHVF)

+ * 1828–1829 – ''Mot de passe'' in Vidocq.^(TLFi)

+ * 1929 – ''Mots croisés''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|word]]: a unit of language: ''un mot de trois syllabes''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A few words, something said or written: ''dire un mot à quelqu'un'', ''ne pas dire un mot''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A short [[m|en|note]], message: ''laisser un mot''.^(Wiktionary)^(BHVF)

+ # A saying, a witty remark: ''un bon mot'', ''mot d'esprit''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The answer to a riddle: ''le mot de l'énigme''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Mot de passe'': a [[m|en|password]].^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Mots croisés'': a [[m|en|crossword]].^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[demi-mot]]

+ * [[motus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[motet]]

+ * [[muet]]

+ * [[en|mot]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}