narratev.

Etymology: < classical Latin narrāt-, past participial stem (compare -ate suffix³) of narrāre to relate, recount, in post-classical Latin also to plead in a court of law (from c1220 in British sources), to recite the verdict of a jury (late 13th cent. in a British source), related to gnārus knowing, skilled (see ignore v.). Compare Italian narrare (late 13th cent.), Middle French, French narrer (late 14th cent.), Spanish narrar (1438), Portuguese narrar . Compare earlier narration n.The earliest example (see quot. 1656 at sense 1a) is perhaps after Spanish narrar; the source purports to be a translation of a Spanish text, although it in fact appears to be an original composition. Otherwise the word appears only in Scots sources before the mid 18th cent., and is noted as such in contemporary sources:1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VI. xxix. 95 When I have least to narrate, to speak in the Scotish phrase, I am most diverting.1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Narrate, to relate, to tell; a word only used in Scotland. Use of the word is criticized by some writers as late as the early 19th cent.; for a late example see quot. 1813 at abominable adj. 2. The forms narret, narrete suggest that in early use in Scots the word had stress on the first syllable. The evidence of 19th-cent. dictionaries varies between stress on the first and the second syllable, although the latter predominates.