reprise

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reprise, borrowed from Anglo-Norman reprise and Middle French reprise,^[2][3][4] the noun use of the feminine of repris,^[2][5][6] past participle of reprendre (“to take back”),^[5][6][3] from Latin reprehendō (“to hold back, seize; to recover”), the source of reprehend.^[3][5][6] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from about 1240, with senses such as rebuke, repossession of land, taking back, and expense or charge.^[7] In Old French it meant the action of starting again from 1213 and a refrain from 1234.^[2] The verb is reprisen,^[5][6][3] from the French past participle repris,^[2][3][5] and partly, the OED says, from the Latin verb.^[2] The OED compares other verbs formed on French past participles, such as comprise and apprise.^[2] Reprisal and reprieve are related.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The taking back of something; loss, expense, cost: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.^[2][6] Etymonline gives the late 14th century, in the sense of a yearly deduction from the income of an estate,^[5] which the OED first records in 1427.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word's early English senses came from law and finance: charges or annuities paid yearly out of an estate, a sense that still appears in the plural.^[2][3][4] Other senses of "taking back" followed: a dance step in which the front foot is drawn back (1521), a set-back in a building, first in Scotland (1535), a recaptured ship (1649) and retaliation (1668).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as taking something in retaliation for an injury, quoting Dryden.^[9] A second branch, "resumption, repetition", appears in English in 1607,^[2] or in Dryden's Albion and Albanius of 1685 according to Barnhart;^[6] it gave the fencing term for a renewed attack (1735).^[2] The musical sense, a repetition of the first theme of a movement, is dated to the early 18th century by the Shorter Oxford,^[10] while Barnhart and Etymonline find it first in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1879).^[6][5] In the 20th century the noun spread to a repeat performance or rerun of any kind.^[10] The verb meant to begin again or to take back by force in late Middle English;^[2][10] its modern sense, to repeat a performance, song or role, appears in 1866,^[2] by 1965 according to Etymonline.^[5] The OED notes that its first edition (1906) gave only a pronunciation rhyming with prize, but that the repetition senses, the only ones much used today, are now usually pronounced with /iː/ in the second syllable.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1393 – the taking back of something; loss, expense (obsolete).^[2][6]
• 1427 – a yearly charge or payment out of an estate.^[2]
• before 1450 – verb, to start again, resume (obsolete).^[2] Barnhart dates the verb to about 1410.^[6]
• 1481 – verb, to take back by force; to recapture (obsolete by 1780).^[2]
• 1521 – a step in dancing.^[2]
• 1535 – in architecture, a return or recess in a structure.^[2]
• 1607 – a resumption or renewal of an action.^[2]
• 1668 – retaliation, reprisal.^[2]
• early 18th century – in music, the repetition of a theme or passage.^[10] Barnhart and Etymonline first find it in 1879.^[6][5]
• 1735 – in fencing, a renewed attack.^[2]
• 1866 – verb, to repeat a song or performance.^[2]
• 1948 – verb, to repeat or revisit information in another context.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. In music, a repetition of a phrase, theme or passage, especially the return of the first theme in a movement in sonata form: The finale ends with a quiet reprise of the opening melody.^[10][11][12]
2. A repeat performance; a revival or rerun of a play, show or the like.^[10][11]
3. A renewal or resumption of an action.^[11][2]
4. (law) Usually in plural, a yearly deduction or charge, such as a rent or annuity, paid out of the income of an estate.^[3][2][4]
5. (architecture) A return of a structure or of mouldings in an internal angle.^[3][10]
6. (fencing) An immediate renewal of an attack that has failed.^[2]
7. (archaic) Reprisal; retaliation for an injury.^[3][2]

Verb

1. To repeat a performance, song or role: The actor reprised his stage role in the film.^{[3][12][2][11]}
2. To repeat or restate the main points of something.^[3][2]
3. (archaic) To take back, especially by force; to recover.^[3][2][10]
4. (archaic) To compensate.^[3][10]

Related words

• reprehend
• reprieve
• reprisal
• comprise
• apprise

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins