memoirn.

Etymology: < Middle French memoire (masculine) written account, description (from c1190 in Old French), document containing the facts in a case which is to be judged (1356), document containing instructions on a certain matter (1477) < memoire (feminine) memory n. The main sense developments in English reflect those in French.The change of gender in French is commonly accounted for by the supposition that the word in this use is elliptical for écrit pour mémoire ; however, the gender of Middle French memoire fluctuated in all senses until the 16th cent., probably influenced by masculine nouns in -oir (see -ory suffix¹). Spanish memoria , Portuguese memória , and Italian memoria are feminine in all senses. In the early modern period in English there is considerable overlap in forms between memoir n. and the β forms s.v. memory n.; it is arguable that sense 1a may represent at least in part a native development from existing senses of memory n. The spelling memoir prevalent in English since the 18th cent. perhaps results from awareness of the gender of the French noun, although the regular spelling of both masculine and feminine mémoire in French has long been with final -e. N.E.D. (1906) records two pronuncs. as current: (me·mwǫ̀ɹ) /ˈmɛmwɔː(r)/, and (me·moi^əɹ) /ˈmɛmɔɪə(r)/. Of these, what N.E.D. calls the ‘quasi-French’ /ˈmɛmwɔː(r)/ shows identification of the vowel in the second syllable in French with the regular rounded development of Middle English a when it occurs after /w/ and before /r/, while /ˈmɛmɔɪə(r)/ shows identification (presumably by analogy with earlier loans) of French oi with the regular reflex of the Middle English diphthong oi. N.E.D. comments: ‘the quasi-French pronunciation, which is still most frequently heard, is somewhat anomalous, as the word is fully naturalized in use, and has been anglicized in spelling; its continued currency is probably due to the fact that -oir is unfamiliar as an ending of English words’. Walker gives /miːˈmɔɪər/ and /ˈmemwɑːr/ (with initial syllable stress and virtually the current pronunciation of the second syllable, which is remarkable in view of the fact that he gives /-wɔːr/ in devoir, reservoir, and scrutoire). 19th-cent. dictionaries record a large amount of variation in pronunciation. In addition to those given by N.E.D., pronunciations are recorded with the following characteristics in varying combinations: stress on the second syllable rather than the first; /iː/ or /eɪ/ in the first syllable; and varying syllabification (with the second /m/ standing either at the end of the first or the beginning of the second syllable). 19th-cent. dictionaries citing the ‘quasi-French’ pronunciation give the vowel as /ɔː/; the pronunciation /ˈmɛmwɑː/ ( U.S. /ˈmɛmˌwɑr/), with pronunciation of the final syllable broadly after French (in line with most other English loans < French in -oir), is recorded, after Walker, from the late 19th cent. The pronunciation /ˈmɛmɔɪə(r)/ does not appear to be recorded later than in N.E.D.; /ˈmɛmˌwɔr/ has remained as an alternative pronunciation in U.S. usage, while /ˈmɛmwɔː(r)/ is still recorded as a less common variant in British usage in the 15th edition of D. Jones Eng. Pronouncing Dict. (1997).