reverie

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɹɛvəɹi/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reverie, ryvori (“wild conduct, revelry”),^[2][3] borrowed from Old French reverie, resverie (“revelry, raving, delirium”),^[4][2][5][6] from rever, resver (“to dream, wander, rave”) (modern French rêver),^[4][2][5][7] of uncertain origin,^[2][5][6] also the source of rave.^[5][8][9] The modern sense was reborrowed in the 17th century from French rêverie.^{[5][6][10][7]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Wanton or wild conduct, revelry, frolic (about 1350 in Barnhart and the MED, and in Chaucer about 1390).^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word meant wild delight, wantonness, violent abuse and anger,^[3][11][6] and seems to have been confused with revelry.^[10] These senses died out, and the word was readopted from French in the 17th century^[10][5] in the senses “a fanciful or impractical notion” (1653)^[11][6] and “a fit of abstracted musing, a daydream” (1657).^[11][2] Etymonline suggests this reborrowing is why the word was never fully naturalized in the spelling revery.^[5] In music a reverie is an instrumental piece of dreamy character.^[12][13]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – wild conduct, revelry.^[2][3]
• c. 1400 – violent or rude language (obsolete).^[11]
• 1653 – a fanciful or impractical notion.^[11]
• 1654 – first date in Merriam-Webster.^[7]
• 1657 – a daydream; abstracted musing.^[11][2]
• 1880 – verb, to indulge in reveries.^[11]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A state of dreamy, abstracted musing; daydreaming.
2. A daydream.
3. A fanciful, visionary or impractical idea.
4. (music) An instrumental composition of a dreamy character.

Related words

• rave
• revelry
• daydream
• brown study

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins