Lexicographers

Abstract

A detailed examination of dictionary definitions reveals the general significance of the terms rapport and convenance during the second half of the 17th century. So far we have thought of rapport above all as a structural principle and of convenance as a normative idea; and in the main these conceptions are shared by the compilers of dictionaries. The meaning of rapport as might be expected with such a basic term, underwent little change over the period, and was consistently associated with the ideas of convenance and bienséance, the relationship between which will be considered later.¹ At the beginning of the century, the following illustration is given in the Thresor de la Langue francoyse: “Le rapport et biens#x00E9;ance des parties l’une à l’autre, convenance et accordance: convenientia partium.”²