épithète

French

Etymology

From Middle French épithète, from Latin epithetum, epitheton, from Ancient Greek ἐπίθετον (epítheton, “epithet, adjective”), the neuter of ἐπίθετος (epíthetos, “attributed, added”), from ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi, “to add on”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “in addition”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, to do”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.pi.tɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

épithète f (plural épithètes)

1. (linguistics, grammar) Refers to a descriptive word or phrase that modifies a nominal element without an intervening verb.
   1. attributive adjective

      Synonym: adjectif épithète

      Hyponyms: adjectif épithète liée, épithète détachée

   2. noun adjunct

      Synonym: nom épithète

2. epithet (designating or qualifying term, label)

   l’épithète malsonnante de bon ― the offensive epithet of good

Usage notes

• A student of French who is familiar with English grammatical jargon should note that, despite their having the appearance of being perfect cognates of epithet and attributive adjective, the terms épithète and adjectif attribut are actually used for entirely different concepts:
  • In English, an adjective that applies to or qualifies a noun directly, without need of a verb, is called an attributive adjective, but in French, this is called an épithète (or adjectif épithète, if context requires a greater level of specificity to differentiate from nom épithète or locutions formed around other parts of speech and functioning in adjectival capacity).
  • Rather than referring to what is called an attributive adjective in English, the French term adjectif attribut is used for an adjectival element whose link to a nominal is supported by an attributive (copulative) verb. In English grammar, these are called predicative adjectives.

Derived terms

• épithète

References

• Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition
• “épithète”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Latin epithetum, epitheton, from Ancient Greek ἐπίθετον (epítheton, “epithet, adjective”), the neuter of ἐπίθετος (epíthetos, “attributed, added”), from ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi, “to add on”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “in addition”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, to do”)).

Noun

épithète f (plural épithètes)

1. epithet