collègue French · revision 38689

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1520, Claude de Seyssel|origins=la collega}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kɔ.lɛɡ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''collègue''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural collègues)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|collēga|t=colleague in a magistracy; companion, comrade]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 896b) Like [[m|la|collēgium]], the source of [[collège]], the Latin word is connected with [[m|la|lēx|t=law]], perhaps through [[m|la|lēgō|t=to delegate, bequeath]]: a colleague was someone who had received a power jointly with others.^(DHLF 1992) The GLLF analyses it as [[m|la|cum|t=with]] and [[m|la|legō|t=to choose]],^(GLLF 1989) and Littré derived it from [[m|la|colligō]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found before 1520 in Claude de Seyssel's translation of Appian's ''Civil Wars'', printed in 1544, for one who holds the same office as another.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word names a person who holds the same post or function as others within a public or private body.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Its friendly sense “mate, pal” (1872, Alphonse Daudet's ''Tartarin de Tarascon'') belongs to the familiar French of Marseille and its region, where it is also a term of address, and probably developed under the influence of Provençal.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(FEW|2, 896b) With this sense it is also used in the French of Africa.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1520 – Claude de Seyssel uses it for a fellow office-holder.^(TLFi)

+ * 1872 – Daudet uses it for a friend, in southern French.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|colleague]], a person with the same post or function as others, or working in the same organisation: ''une collègue de bureau''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar, southern France)'' A [[m|en|friend]], mate.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[collège]]

+ * [[loi]]

+ * [[la|collega]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Collègue'' is said of those who share a function or workplace, while ''confrère'' is said of members of the same profession or society.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}