“We commemorate the storming of the Bastille”
or
“we commemorate the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille”
?
Difficult to know which of the two verbs is correct.
Do you know the exact definition of the verb commemorate?
Recently, we could see this sentence on social networks:
“On December 5, we commemorate the anniversary of the death of Alexandre Dumas, which occurred in 1870.”
On the surface, this sentence seems quite correct.
But in reality, there is one word too many, the use of the verb
"to commemorate"
is indeed subtle.
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According to the Trésor de la langue française, the verb
“to commemorate”
means
“to mark with a ceremony the memory of a person, an act or an event.”
Thus, we commemorate a victory, the birth or death of someone.
Example, on November 11, all of France commemorates Armistice Day in 1918. The word comes from the Latin
“commemorare”
which means
“to gather in one's memory”
,
“to remember”
.
We remember the events that took place that day.
As noted by the French Academy, the name
"anniversary"
designates a date that recalls the memory of an event that occurred one or more years previously.
Using it as an object of the verb
"to commemorate"
is therefore useless, the same for the noun
"centenary"
.
In fact, this is redundant.
Thus, we will not say:
“We are commemorating the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille”
.
As for the verb
“celebrate”
, it means
“to praise, to praise”
but also
“to mark an event or its memory with a certain solemnity”
.
Thus, we celebrate the centenary of the First World War but
“we commemorate the beginning of the First World War”
.
Finally, we will say
“we are celebrating the anniversary of the end of the First World War”
.