JS Milne has a page about common errors in mathematical papers, and one of them is the usage of "verify" to mean "satisfy".



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> Improper usage: "The set $A$ verifies the condition."
> 
> 
> Proper usage: "The set $A$ satisfies the condition."
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> Proper usage: "We verify that $A$ satisfies the condition."
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> 
> 


Strangely enough, I've only seen this once or twice in a paper or book written in English, but I've seen it in nearly every paper or book written in French that I've read. That is, we have:



> 
> L'ensemble $A$ vérifie la condition.
> 
> 
> 


Now, there's another error on Milne's page that he notes, the "associated to" and "associated with" error. If one is attempting to use proper English, "associated with" is the only correct choice. It turns out that this error comes from a mistranslation of the French, "associé à", which means "associated with".


My question then: Is the French usage of "vérifier" to mean "satisfy" acceptable in French, like the usage of "associé à", but not in English, or is it just an error that has propagated to both languages (possibly from a third language where the word for "verify" is the same as the word for "satisfy")?



The origin of the satisfy-verify mixup
Dear Harry, in Serre's collected papers, vol.1, page 183 [or Annals of Math.58(1953) page 270]
you'll find (line -5) 


"Soit $\mathcal C$ une classe **vérifiant** (II\_A)..."


and many such examples on the same page, corroborating your testimony on papers and books you read in French. I recoil in horror at the thought that some heretic might not consider this a sufficient proof that the usage of "vérifie" in the sense "satisfies" is more than acceptable in French. Another quote: Bourbaki, in Topologie Générale, Chapitre 1, §6, page 61 (line -15)[Quatrième édition] writes 


"Pour qu'un ensemble de parties satisfaisant à (F\_1) **vérifie** aussi..."


