English
raconteur
Raconteur comes from French raconteur ‘storyteller, narrator’, from raconter ‘to recount’, and ultimately from Old French aconter ‘to tell’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400aconter1‘to tell’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400raconter1
- Frenchc. 1600–presentraconter2‘to recount’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentraconteur2‘storyteller, narrator’
- Englishearliest quotation 1888raconteur2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, French raconter
- 2 Wiktionary, English raconteur
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1888, Henry James: “He was tempted to try the last door—to look…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400aconterWiktionary, French raconter‘to tell’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400raconterWiktionary, French raconter
- Frenchc. 1600–presentraconterWiktionary, English raconteur‘to recount’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentraconteurWiktionary, English raconteur‘storyteller, narrator’
- Englishearliest quotation 1888raconteurWiktionary, English raconteur. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1888, Henry James: “He was tempted to try the last door—to look…”
Linked words
through Latin putus
through Latin putō ‘to reckon’
dispute, counter, discount, imp, putative, amputation, indisputable, indisputably, amputee, repute, amputate, countable, imputation, depute, disputable, disputation, 7 more
through Latin computō ‘to calculate, compute, reckon together’
count, computation, compute, 3 more
through Old French aconter ‘to tell’
Today it means
noun A storyteller, especially a person noted for telling stories with skill and wit.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “raconteur”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French raconter. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Old French aconter / raconteur