auteur

English

WOTD – 4 July 2011

Etymology

Borrowed from French auteur (“author”). 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”. Doublet of author.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /oʊˈtɝ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈtɜː/, /əʊˈtɜː/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: au‧teur
• Homophone: hauteur

Noun

auteur (plural auteurs)

1. 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 his works.
   • 1974 February 11, William Bender, “Call to vespers”, in Time:

     The libretto was a piece of hack work from a Parisian scenario factory run by an enterprising auteur of sorts named Eugene Scribe.

   • 2003 April 24, “Broadway is bigger than ever”, in The Economist‎^[1]:

     Since Mr Luhrmann first tackled the opera, he has entered the select circle of celebrity directors on the basis of only three films, including “Moulin Rouge”. And his “La Bohème”—designed by Mrs Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, a double Oscar-winner for “Moulin Rouge”—is avowedly the work of an auteur.

   • 2011 June 23, Jane Graham, “Terrence Malick to Woody Allen – the directors actors will kill to work for”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     If a widely respected auteur such as Martin Scorsese, Allen or Malick has given you the stamp of approval, you might not live fast or die young, but you'll leave a good-looking legacy.

Derived terms

• auteur theory
• auteurism

Related terms

• author

Translations

creative artist

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: հեղինակ (hy) (hełinak)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (explanatory) 具有自己獨特風格的電影導演, 具有自己独特风格的电影导演 (jùyǒu zìjǐ dútè fēnggé de diànyǐng dǎoyǎn), 著者 (zh) (zhùzhě)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: auteur (nl) m
• Finnish: tekijä (fi), auktori (fi)
• French: auteur (fr) m
• German: Autorenfilmer m, Cineast (de) m
• Hindi: कलाकार (hi) n (kalākār)

• Italian: cineasta (it) m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: autor (pt) m
• Romanian: autor (ro) m
• Russian: авто́р (ru) m (avtór)
• Spanish: autor (es) m
• Swedish: auteur (sv) c
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• auteur on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Dutch

Alternative forms

• autheur (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from French auteur, from Middle French autheur, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, auctorem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑu̯ˈtøːr/, /oːˈtøːr/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: au‧teur
• Rhymes: -øːr

Noun

auteur m (plural auteurs, diminutive auteurtje n, feminine autrice)

1. author
2. composer, artist, creator of a work

Derived terms

• auteurschap
• auteursrecht

Descendants

• Afrikaans: outeur
• → West Frisian: auteur

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French

Etymology

From Middle French autheur, from Old French autor, borrowed from Latin auctor, auctorem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.tœʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -œʁ

Noun

auteur m (plural auteurs, feminine autrice)

1. author
2. composer, artist
3. inventor (of discovery); perpetrator (of crime); leader (of rebellion etc.)

Derived terms

• coauteur

See also

• écrivain

Further reading

• “auteur” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Portuguese

Noun

auteur m (plural auteurs)

1. auteur (creative artist)