caractère French · revision 17665

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1274|origins=grc χαράσσω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ka.ʁak.tɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''caractère''' ''m'' (plural caractères)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Karactere'' (1274), ''caratere'' (1372), ''carathere'' (1550), ''charactere'' (1567); ''caractère'' from 1596.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) Old French had popular forms such as ''caracte'' and ''charai'', meaning a spell.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|charactēr|t=brand; mark; style; character]], from [[grc|χαρακτήρ|tr=kharaktḗr|t=engraver; stamp, mark; distinctive nature]].^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|2, 623b) The Greek noun is derived from [[m|grc|χαράσσω|tr=kharássō|t=to sharpen; to engrave, inscribe]], a technical word without an established Indo-European etymology, perhaps related to [[lt|žerti|alt=žeriù]] “to scratch”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) In Latin it meant a manner of style (Varro), then a manner of being, as well as a brand on an animal, the mark of a coin, a written sign and, in Christian writers, the mark of baptism.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Bloch and Wartburg think the sense “distinctive trait” was taken directly from Greek in the 16th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Littré notes that the learned form replaced older popular ones built on the Latin stress, which meant a magic sign.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Before the learned form, the 12th-century chronicle of Benoît speaks of ''caractes'', magic signs that made a man invulnerable;^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''karactere'' is recorded in 1274.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 14th century ''caractère'' meant an imprint (1372) and the sign of a sacrament (1389–92).^(TLFi) From 1550 it named a sign of writing, a letter (''les caratheres des lettres grecques''), then a sign used in arithmetic or chemistry (1567) and a printing type (before 1589).^(TLFi)^(BHVF) In classical French it also named a talisman marked with a magic sign, as in Molière.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ From Pascal (before 1662) it took the senses of a distinctive feature of a thing and of the set of moral traits of a person (''Diseur de bons mots, mauvais caractère''), whence firmness of character, ''avoir du caractère''.^(TLFi) La Bruyère's ''Caractères'' (1688) made it the name of a literary portrait.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) It was extended to the genera of plants (1704) and, in the Académie of 1798, to the expressive quality of music.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – ''Caractes'', magic signs, in Benoît.^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1274 – ''Karactere''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1372 – ''Caratere'' “imprint”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1550 – ''Carathere'', a written sign.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1596 – The spelling ''caractère''.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * Before 1662 – Pascal: a person's moral nature.^(TLFi)

+ * 1704 – In botany, a distinguishing feature of a genus.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A written or printed [[m|en|character]], a letter or sign: ''caractères grecs'', ''écrire en gros caractères''; in computing, a character of an alphabet.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A distinctive [[m|en|feature]] or quality of a thing: ''le caractère confidentiel d'un document''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person's [[m|en|nature]], [[m|en|temperament]]: ''avoir bon, mauvais caractère''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Strength of character, [[m|en|firmness]]: ''avoir du caractère''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Individual style, originality.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(literature)'' A character portrait: ''les Caractères'' of La Bruyère.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(classical)'' A [[m|en|talisman]] marked with a magic sign.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[caractériel]]

+ * [[caractériser]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[caractéristique]]

+ * [[grc|χαρακτήρ|tr=kharaktḗr]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}