raconteur

raconteur

English

WOTD – 4 February 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from French raconteur.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɹæk.ɒnˈtəː/, /ˌɹæk.ɔ̃(n)ˈtəː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɹæk.ɑnˈtɝ/, /ˌɹæk.ɔ̃(n)ˈtɝ/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

raconteur (plural raconteurs)

1. A storyteller, especially a person noted for telling stories with skill and wit.
   • 1888, Henry James, The Liar.

     He was tempted to try the last door—to look into the room of evil fame; but he reflected that this would be indiscreet, since Colonel Capadose handled the brush—as a raconteur—with such freedom. There might be a ghost and there might not; but the Colonel himself, he inclined to think, was the most mystifying figure in the house.

   • 1905, W. G. Aston, chapter 5, in Shinto: The Way of the Gods, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., page 79:

     It is notoriously possible for the author of a fictitious narrative to become, after a time, unable to distinguish it from a statement of actual facts. There is a case on record in which a learned judge communicated to the Psychical Society in perfect good faith a ghost story, all the principal features of which were proved to be imaginary. They had their origin in his own talent as a distinguished raconteur.

Translations

storyteller

Chinese: Mandarin: 善讲故事的人 (zh), 健谈者 (zh) Czech: vypravěč (cs) m Finnish: tarinankertoja (fi) French: raconteur (fr) m German: Geschichtenerzähler (de) m Anekdotenerzähler m Greek: ανεκδοτολόγος (el) m or f (anekdotológos) Hungarian: anekdotázó, mesélő Macedonian: раска́жувач m (raskážuvač), раскажу́вачка f (raskažúvačka) Polish: gawędziarz (pl) m, gawędziarka f Portuguese: contador (de casos/histórias/contos) m Russian: расска́зчик (ru) m (rasskázčik), расска́зчица (ru) f (rasskázčica) Spanish: narrador

Verb

raconteur (third-person singular simple present raconteurs, present participle raconteuring, simple past and past participle raconteured)

1. To make witty remarks or stories.
   • 2003, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White‎, →ISBN, page 155:

     The two of them turn to each other and raise an eyebrow each, their signal to slip into alternating raconteuring.

Translations

To make witty remarks or stories

Finnish: tarinoida (fi) Russian: расска́зывать исто́рии (rasskázyvatʹ istórii)

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French

Etymology

From raconter +‎ -eur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.kɔ̃.tœʁ/

Noun

raconteur m (plural raconteurs, feminine raconteuse)

1. storyteller, narrator

Further reading

• “raconteur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• recourant