Etymograph

English

auteur

Auteur comes from French auteur ‘author’, from Latin augeō ‘to increase, augment, enlarge, spread, expand’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ewg-‘to increase, to enlarge’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂owg-éye-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*augejōreconstructed
  4. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*augeō‘to increase’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaugeō‘to increase, augment, enlarge, spread, expand’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEauctor‘author, originator’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400autor‘author (writer)’
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600autheur‘author’
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentauteur‘author’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1974same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ewg-‘to increase, to enlarge’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂owg-éye-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*augejōreconstructed
  4. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*augeō‘to increase’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaugeō‘to increase, augment, enlarge, spread, expand’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEauctor‘author, originator’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400autor‘author (writer)’
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600autheur‘author’
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentauteur‘author’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1974same form

Earliest quotation: 1974, William Bender, Call to vespers: “The libretto was a piece of hack work from…”

The story

Popularised by François Truffaut in the 1954 essay “Une certaine tendance du cinéma français” (‘A certain tendency in French cinema’) in the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma as the phrase “la politique des Auteurs”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- ‘to increase, to enlarge’

august, nickname, eke, 8 more

through Proto-Italic *augeō ‘to increase’

auxiliary, augmentation, 5 more

through Latin augeō ‘to increase, augment, enlarge, spread, expand’

auction, augment, 5 more

through Latin auctor ‘author, originator’

authority, authorize

through Old French autor ‘author (writer)’

author

Today it means

noun A creative artist, especially a film director, seen as having a specific, recognisable artistic vision, and who is seen as the single or preeminent ‘author’ of their works.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- / auteur

Shirt and support for this word